Place Value Mastermind with Robots

40 Place Value Puzzles with Robots. Ones, Tens and Hundreds Free Activity. Pencil and Paper Math Puzzles. Puzzles with greater than and less than, even and odd numbers. Mathematics games with robots for 3rd through 6th grade. Deduction games for children.

Place Value Mastermind

Through an elimination process, students discover the 3-digit secret numbers.

Students will use their knowledge of the place value of numbers to interpret several clues that will help them discover a secret 3-digit numbers.

Before playing, refresh students knowledge of the positions of the Ones, Tens, and Hundreds columns. You might draw a representation of the columns and their positions on the board or a sheet of chart paper.

Then provide a series of numbers and ask random questions such as

  • What number is in the Tens column in the number 526? (2)
  • In which column is the 4 in the number 324? (It is in the Ones column.)
  • In the number 479, in which column in the 4? (It is in the Hundreds column.)
  • Which number is in the Ones column in the number 611? (1)

When the rules of the game and the way to ask questions are clear to your students, you can give each student the printed sheets of the PDF file so that they now solve the puzzles individually, presented as the search for damaged robots.

The booklet contains 20 sheets, each with two mastermind puzzles. In each puzzles, the student must search among 10 numbers for the one that complies with each of the 4 rules or clues given, for each robot workshop.

The instructions given in the sheets are:

There is a damaged robot in each workshop. To locate the robot, cross out the numbers that do not match the clues. To check you answer, the damaged robots will be in the same repair booth in both workshops.

Download and print the Place Value Mastermind Puzzles [PDF Document]. Use the password worksheets.site to open the PDF file.

1. Suggested Use

These games can be used in a variety of scenarios, to practice the place value of the digits of a number, instead of flat boring worksheets:

Homework

This game is ideal for homework. It is a fun alternative to regular homework and parents can help their children too. However, children can guide themselves and self-correct their answers by checking if, on their sheet, both solutions are in the same box, in the same repair booths.

Peer Learning

These printable games are a great activity that students can use to help each other. Note that each even pages have the same two robots solutions as the odd pages. That is, if a couple of students receive two sheets, they can also help each other verify that they have made their deductions correctly.