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25 quick maths starters

A maths starter (or warm-up) is a short activity at the beginning of a lesson. It gets pupils thinking, gives you a quick read of the room, and keeps number facts ticking over. The best ones take 5 to 10 minutes, need little or no preparation and get every pupil answering, not only the confident few.

The 25 starters below are grouped by key stage, but most work in any year: change the numbers and they grow with your class. Mini whiteboards, a set of digit cards or fingers are all you need for "show me" answers.

Starters for Key Stage 1 (Years 1 and 2)

1. Today's number. Write one number on the board and ask pupils to tell you everything they can about it. Example: 14 is one ten and four ones, it's even, it's double 7, it's 10 + 4, it's 20 − 6, and one more is 15.
2. Count around the class. Count on or back in steps, one pupil at a time. Clap to change direction. Example: count in 2s from 0, in 5s from 0, or (Year 2) in 10s from 7: 7, 17, 27, 37, 47.
3. Show me. Ask a question and everyone shows the answer at once on fingers, cubes or whiteboards. Example: "Show me 6. Show me 2 more than 6. Show me a number bond to 10." (8, then any pair such as 6 and 4.)
4. Missing number. Put up a number sentence with a gap. Example: 8 + ☐ = 15 (the answer is 7) and ☐ − 4 = 9 (the answer is 13). Ask how they could check.
5. Odd one out. Show four numbers and ask which doesn't belong and why. Example: 6, 12, 15, 20. Most say 15, the only odd number. Also accept 6 (the only one-digit number) or 20 (the only multiple of 10) if they can explain.
6. Ping pong bonds. You say a number, the class "bats back" its partner. Example: bonds to 10: you say 3, they say 7. Bonds to 20: you say 6, they say 14. Year 2 bonds to 100: you say 30, they say 70.
7. Guess my number. Give clues one at a time and pupils narrow it down on whiteboards. Example: "My number is between 1 and 20. It's odd. It's more than 10. It's in the 5 times table." The answer is 15.
8. Honeycomb puzzle. Project a Beequation honeycomb. One number is the sum of two others: who can find it? Example: 8, 3, 16, 9, 7. The answer is 16, because 9 + 7 = 16. Ask how they ruled the other numbers out.

Starters for lower Key Stage 2 (Years 3 and 4)

9. Number of the day. Keep a fixed set of prompts on the board and change the number daily. Example: for 48: double it (96), halve it (24), add 100 (148), round to the nearest 10 (50), write it in words (forty-eight), and give a times-table fact (6 × 8).
10. Estimation station. Show a jar of cubes, a pile of books or a picture of a crowd. Pupils write an estimate, then you give one clue and they can change it. Example: a jar of cubes; the clue is that this small pot holds 10, and the jar holds about 6 pots' worth, so about 60.
11. Always, sometimes, never. Read a statement and pupils decide, then prove it with examples. Example: "Two odd numbers add up to an even number" (always). "A number in the 3 times table is odd" (sometimes: 9 is, 12 isn't).
12. Fact families. Give three numbers and ask for all four facts. Example: 7, 8 and 56 give 7 × 8 = 56, 8 × 7 = 56, 56 ÷ 7 = 8 and 56 ÷ 8 = 7.
13. Use what you know. Give one fact and ask for as many related facts as they can find. Example: from 3 × 8 = 24: 30 × 8 = 240, 3 × 80 = 240, 24 ÷ 8 = 3, 240 ÷ 8 = 30, and 6 × 8 = 48 (double).
14. Times-table honeycomb. A Beequation puzzle where one number is the product of two others. Example: 6, 8, 42, 7, 45. The answer is 42, because 6 × 7 = 42. (6 × 8 is 48, not 45: a nice trap.)
15. Missing digits. Show a calculation with digits hidden. Example: 5☐ + ☐6 = 83. The ones must make 13 (7 + 6), so the first number is 57; carrying the 1 gives 5 + 2 + 1 = 8 tens, so the second number is 26. Check: 57 + 26 = 83.
16. What time will it be? Give a time and a jump. Example: "It's 10:45. What time will it be in 25 minutes?" 15 minutes takes you to 11:00, and 10 more gives 11:10.

Starters for upper Key Stage 2 (Years 5 and 6)

17. Countdown. Six numbers and a target; use +, −, × and ÷ to get as close as possible. Example: 25, 6, 3, 2, 10, 1, target 156. One way: 25 × 6 = 150, 3 × 2 = 6, and 150 + 6 = 156.
18. Which is the odd one? Every number can be the odd one out, for a different reason. Example: 9, 16, 25, 43. 9 is the only one-digit number, 16 the only even number, 25 the only multiple of 5, and 43 the only one that isn't a square number (it's also the only prime).
19. True or false? One statement, thumbs up or down, then a pupil explains. Example: "0.3 × 10 = 0.30" is false: it's 3, because every digit moves one place to the left. "⅗ is bigger than ½" is true: ⅗ = 0.6.
20. Say it another way. Give a fraction, decimal or percentage and ask for the other two. Example: ⅖ = 0.4 = 40%. Stretch: ⅜ = 0.375 = 37.5%.
21. Factor hunt. Pupils list every factor of a number in pairs. Example: 24 has 8 factors: 1 and 24, 2 and 12, 3 and 8, 4 and 6. Follow-up: which number below 20 has the most factors? (12 and 18 tie, with 6 each.)
22. Make it balance. Both sides of the equals sign must have the same value. Example: 36 + 27 = ☐ + 30. 27 is 3 less than 30, so the box is 3 less than 36: 33. Check: both sides make 63.
23. Estimate first. Pupils write a rough answer before working it out. Example: 398 × 5 is about 400 × 5 = 2,000. Exactly, it's 2,000 − 10 = 1,990.
24. Below zero. Temperature questions that cross zero. Example: "It was −3 °C at 6 am and 5 °C at noon. How many degrees warmer was it?" 3 degrees up to zero, then 5 more: 8 degrees.
25. Decimal honeycomb. A Beequation puzzle with tenths. Example: 0.6, 1.5, 0.9, 2.3, 0.4. The answer is 1.5, because 0.6 + 0.9 = 1.5. (1.5 + 0.9 is 2.4, not 2.3.)

Making starters work

• Everyone answers. Whiteboards, fingers or "show me on three" stop the same hands going up every time and show you who needs help.
• Ask "how do you know?" A starter is a good place to share methods. Two pupils who both got 33 may have used very different routes.
• Revisit old learning. A starter on last term's topic keeps it fresh and is often more useful than a preview of today's lesson.
• Keep it short. Set a timer. If the starter turns into a misconception worth teaching, note it and come back to it.

For printable honeycomb puzzles to project or hand out, download the free puzzle pack for classes, or open the browser game on the board.

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