Puzzles, games and puzzle hunts · Maths CAS idea
Write a logic puzzle book for charity
CreativityServiceProject-ready
Write, test and publish a short book of original logic puzzles, selling it at school events with the money going to a chosen charity.
Where the maths comes in
Designing puzzles with unique solutions and checking them systematically, by hand or with code.
Which CAS strand it fits
- Creativity: The arts, and other experiences that involve creative thinking.
- Service: Unpaid, voluntary work with others that also has a learning benefit for you.
Your CAS coordinator decides how an experience counts at your school. Strand summaries are provisional (our words, being checked).
How to run it
- Choose puzzle types and write many drafts.
- Check every puzzle has exactly one solution.
- Lay out and print the book with the school's support.
- Sell it and pass the money to the charity through the school.
This can grow into a CAS project if your CAS coordinator agrees: see planning a maths CAS project.
How to evidence it
- Drafts and checks
- The printed book
- Sales total and the charity's receipt
Date everything and keep it in your school's CAS portfolio as you go. More on what counts as evidence.
Reflection prompts
Questions to think about, not answers to copy. Write your reflections in your own words, in whatever form your school accepts.
- How did you check that each puzzle had one solution?
- Why that charity?
- What did selling teach you?
Learning outcomes this often gives a chance to show
- Challenge and new skills. What could you not do at the start that you can do now? Which moment felt most uncomfortable, and what did you do next?
- Initiative and planning. What did you plan, and what did you have to change once you started? Who did you need to ask for permission or help, and how did you go about it?
- Global significance. How does the local need you worked on connect to a wider issue? What did you learn about that issue that you did not know before?
Whether you meet an outcome depends on what you actually do and reflect on, not on the idea. Outcome labels are our short summaries, being checked.
Safety and ethics
- All puzzles original; money handled through the school with receipts.
Agree every plan with your CAS coordinator first. Safety and ethics for maths CAS.
For puzzle ideas to adapt (never copy), browse competition maths.