Brain Teasers: Multi-Step Math Puzzles

Brain Teasers gives children in Grades 6 to 8 the kind of math that feels like a game. Every puzzle takes more than one step, every puzzle with a number or logic answer has exactly one answer, checked by listing all the possibilities, and some prompts are open-ended and say so in the key. Each page prints on one sheet, and the puzzle pages end with a star puzzle for children who want more.

The puzzles cover mixing paint and scaling recipes, finding the best buy, discount then tax and successive percent changes, riddles on the number line, think-of-a-number equations, number patterns and toothpick patterns, fair and unfair dice games, composite shapes and angle chases, a logic grid that needs two-step deduction, and puzzles about who is lying. A make-your-own page shows children how to build a puzzle with one answer and test it on a partner.

Inside: teacher notes with a hints ladder, 45-minute plans and ways to make each page easier or harder, ten puzzle pages, an eight-question check-up and a full answer key with every working shown. Print in black and white on any printer. The free sample is the teacher notes and the ratio and rate page.