This is a great way to get children discussing the mental strategies they use when calculating.
The idea is that the children have to follow a series of instructions to arrive at an unknown number. The image on the left shows a chain of number operations. The starting point is 2, to which 4 is added (making 6), this is then multiplied by 2 (giving 12), divided by 6 (making 2) then, finally, 1 is added (to end with 3). Read more »