🎬 Warm-ups that play like a movie

Maths warm-up missions

Five minutes of story and fast practice before any class: times tables, mental maths, BODMAS / PEMDAS and a riddle boss. KG to Grade 10, in Easy, Medium and Hard.

A story in scenes

Every grade band has its own film: ducklings, a rocket, a treasure island, a dragon, a vault heist and a signal from another planet.

Tables blitz

Ten quick facts against the clock: 12, 8 or 5 seconds each, by mode.

BODMAS / PEMDAS

A slip shows the working one step at a time, so a wrong answer teaches the order.

Riddle boss

Two hits and a riddle to finish. A hint after the first try, the reason after the answer.

For teachers and parents

Maths riddles with answers

Every riddle the bosses ask, by grade. Good for a quick question at the door or the last minute of a class.

KG: 10 riddles

Mia has 3 red balloons and 2 blue balloons. One floats away. How many balloons does Mia have now?
Answer: 4. 3 + 2 = 5, and 5 − 1 = 4.
A duck has 2 legs. How many legs do 2 ducks have?
Answer: 4. 2 + 2 = 4.
I come after 6 and before 8. What number am I?
Answer: 7. 6, 7, 8: I am 7.
There are 5 birds on a tree. 5 more birds land on it. How many birds are on the tree?
Answer: 10. 5 + 5 = 10.
How many corners does a square have?
Answer: 4. A square has 4 corners and 4 sides.
I am bigger than 3 and smaller than 5. What number am I?
Answer: 4. Only 4 sits between 3 and 5.
Each hand has 5 fingers. How many fingers are on 2 hands?
Answer: 10. 5 + 5 = 10.
Sam had 6 cookies. He ate 2. How many cookies are left?
Answer: 4. 6 − 2 = 4.
A cat has 4 legs and a bird has 2. How many legs do they have together?
Answer: 6. 4 + 2 = 6.
Count backwards: 10, 9, 8, … What number comes after 8?
Answer: 7. Counting back, 7 comes after 8.

Grades 1 and 2: 10 riddles

I am a number. Add 5 to me and you get 12. What number am I?
Answer: 7. 12 − 5 = 7.
A farmer has 3 hens and 2 cows. How many legs are there altogether?
Answer: 14. 3 × 2 = 6 and 2 × 4 = 8, so 6 + 8 = 14.
How many months of the year have 28 days?
Answer: 12. Every month has at least 28 days, so all 12 do.
I am a two-digit number. My two digits are the same and they add up to 8. What number am I?
Answer: 44. 4 + 4 = 8, so I am 44.
Double me and add 3. You get 15. What number am I?
Answer: 6. 15 − 3 = 12 and half of 12 is 6.
A clock chimes once at 1 o'clock, twice at 2 o'clock and so on. How many chimes from 1 o'clock to 4 o'clock?
Answer: 10. 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 = 10.
There are 6 apples on the table. You take away 4. How many apples do YOU have?
Answer: 4. You took 4, so you have 4.
A spider has 8 legs and an ant has 6. How many legs do they have together?
Answer: 14. 8 + 6 = 14.
I am between 10 and 20 and I am in the 5 times table. What number am I?
Answer: 15. 5, 10, 15, 20: only 15 is between 10 and 20.
Ria is 7. Her brother is 3 years older. How old will her brother be next year?
Answer: 11. 7 + 3 = 10 now, so 11 next year.

Grades 3 and 4: 10 riddles

I am a two-digit number. My tens digit is 3 more than my ones digit, and my digits add up to 11. What number am I?
Answer: 74. 7 + 4 = 11 and 7 is 3 more than 4, so 74.
What is half of a quarter of 80?
Answer: 10. A quarter of 80 is 20; half of 20 is 10.
A brick weighs 1 kg plus half a brick. How many kilograms does one whole brick weigh?
Answer: 2. Half a brick weighs 1 kg, so a whole brick weighs 2 kg.
I am in the 6 times table and the 8 times table, and I am less than 30. What number am I?
Answer: 24. 8, 16, 24: 24 is also 6 × 4.
3 cats catch 3 mice in 3 minutes. How many cats are needed to catch 100 mice in 100 minutes?
Answer: 3. Each cat catches 1 mouse every 3 minutes, so 3 cats catch 100 mice in 100 minutes.
A number multiplied by itself is 49. What is the number?
Answer: 7. 7 × 7 = 49.
I am an odd number. Take away one letter and I become even. What number am I? (Type the word.)
Answer: seven. Take the s off seven and you get even.
Sam is 8. His sister is half his age. When Sam is 20, how old will his sister be?
Answer: 16. She is 4 now, 4 years younger, so when Sam is 20 she is 16.
A ship has a rope ladder with 10 rungs above the water. The tide rises by 2 rungs. How many rungs are above the water now?
Answer: 10. The ship floats up with the tide, so 10 rungs are still above the water.
What is the smallest number you can make with the digits 7, 0 and 4, using each once?
Answer: 407. 0 cannot go first, so 4 goes first, then 0, then 7: 407.

Grades 5 and 6: 10 riddles

I am the largest three-digit number whose digits are all different and add up to 6. What number am I?
Answer: 510. 6 would need 0 and 0 (the same digit), so 5, 1 and 0: 510.
A bat and a ball cost ₹110 together. The bat costs ₹100 more than the ball. How many rupees does the ball cost?
Answer: 5. Ball ₹5, bat ₹105: together ₹110, and the bat costs ₹100 more.
What is 20% of 50% of 400?
Answer: 40. 50% of 400 is 200, and 20% of 200 is 40.
Two numbers next to each other multiply to 132. What is the smaller one?
Answer: 11. 11 × 12 = 132.
How many squares of any size are there on a 3 by 3 grid?
Answer: 14. 9 small + 4 medium + 1 big = 14.
Half of a number is 15 more than a quarter of it. What is the number?
Answer: 60. A quarter of the number is 15, so the number is 60.
A snail climbs 3 m up a 10 m well each day and slips back 2 m each night. On which day does it reach the top?
Answer: 8. After 7 days and nights it is at 7 m; on day 8 it climbs to 10 m.
I am a prime number between 20 and 30, and my digits add up to 11. What number am I?
Answer: 29. 2 + 9 = 11, so 29.
How many minutes are there in a quarter of a day?
Answer: 360. 6 hours × 60 = 360 minutes.
The average of 4 numbers is 10. Three of them are 8, 9 and 11. What is the fourth?
Answer: 12. 8 + 9 + 11 = 28 and 40 − 28 = 12.

Grades 7 and 8: 10 riddles

A positive number squared, minus the number itself, is 42. What is the number?
Answer: 7. 7 × 6 = 42.
3x − 7 = 2x + 5. What is x?
Answer: 12. x − 7 = 5, so x = 12.
A shirt is cut by 20%, then the new price is cut by 25%. It now costs ₹600. What was the first price in rupees?
Answer: 1000. 0.8 × 0.75 = 0.6 and 600 ÷ 0.6 = 1000.
Three even numbers in a row add up to 78. What is the largest?
Answer: 28. 24 + 26 + 28 = 78.
How many diagonals does a hexagon have?
Answer: 9. 6 × 3 = 18, but each diagonal is counted twice: 9.
I am a perfect square and a perfect cube, bigger than 1 and less than 100. What number am I?
Answer: 64. 64 = 8² = 4³.
Two numbers add up to 30 and their difference is 8. What is the larger number?
Answer: 19. (30 + 8) ÷ 2 = 19, and 19 − 11 = 8.
What is (−2)³ + (−1)²?
Answer: -7. (−2)³ = −8 and (−1)² = 1, so −7.
A train 200 m long passes a pole in 10 seconds. What is its speed in metres per second?
Answer: 20. 200 m ÷ 10 s = 20 m/s.
What is the smallest number above 1 that leaves a remainder of 1 when divided by 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6?
Answer: 61. The LCM is 60, so 60 + 1 = 61.

Grades 9 and 10: 10 riddles

2ˣ = 64. What is x?
Answer: 6. 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64: that is 2⁶.
The roots of x² − 5x + 6 = 0 are multiplied together. What do you get?
Answer: 6. (x − 2)(x − 3) = 0, and 2 × 3 = 6.
x + 1/x = 3. What is x² + 1/x²?
Answer: 7. (x + 1/x)² = x² + 2 + 1/x² = 9, so x² + 1/x² = 7.
What is the sum of the first 20 odd numbers?
Answer: 400. The sum of the first n odd numbers is n², and 20² = 400.
10 people each shake hands once with everyone else. How many handshakes is that?
Answer: 45. 10 × 9 ÷ 2 = 45.
What is the 10th term of 3, 7, 11, 15, …?
Answer: 39. 3 + 9 × 4 = 39.
What is log₁₀ 1000?
Answer: 3. 10³ = 1000.
A right triangle has legs 9 and 12. How long is the hypotenuse?
Answer: 15. √(81 + 144) = √225 = 15.
A coin is tossed 3 times. In how many of the outcomes are there exactly 2 heads?
Answer: 3. HHT, HTH and THH: 3.
What is the smallest positive whole number n that makes 12n a perfect square?
Answer: 3. 12 × 3 = 36 = 6².

FAQ

Warm-up missions: questions

What is a maths warm-up mission?

A five-minute warm-up that plays like a short film. A story is told in scenes, and every right answer moves the hero on: a tables blitz, mental maths, order of operations and a riddle boss at the end.

Which grades is it for?

KG to Grade 10 (Class 10). The youngest count, add and find missing numbers; older grades do tables, integers, percentages, powers, equations and BODMAS / PEMDAS. Each grade has Easy, Medium and Hard.

Are the questions the same every time?

No. Every question is made fresh, so a class can play the same episode every day and still practise new questions.

How do I use it in a live class?

Share your screen, press Full screen and turn on Class mode: there is no clock, you show the answer when the class is ready and mark whether they got it. Then go straight to the lesson.

What is the Training room?

Practice for one skill at a time: a times table of your choice, mental maths, order of operations or riddles. Race the 60-second sprint or keep going with no clock. Your best scores stay on this device.

What is the difference between PEMDAS and BODMAS?

None in the maths. Both mean: brackets (parentheses) first, then powers (orders, exponents), then multiplication and division from left to right, then addition and subtraction from left to right.

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