Puzzles, games and puzzle hunts · Maths CAS idea
Run a school-wide puzzle hunt
CreativityServiceProject-ready
Design a puzzle hunt across the school site with clues hidden in places, combining maths puzzles, codes and a final meta-puzzle.
Where the maths comes in
Cipher design, logic puzzles and a meta-puzzle that uses earlier answers.
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
- Get permission and choose safe locations.
- Write puzzles and a meta-puzzle, then test them.
- Set up on the day with a team of marshals.
- Gather feedback and publish solutions.
This can grow into a CAS project if your CAS coordinator agrees: see planning a maths CAS project.
How to evidence it
- Puzzle drafts and test results
- Site plan
- Feedback and published solutions
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 design the meta-puzzle so it felt fair?
- What went wrong on the day?
- What made your team work well together?
Learning outcomes this often gives a chance to show
- 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?
- Collaboration. What did someone else bring that you could not have done alone? Describe a disagreement or a mix-up in the team. How was it resolved?
- 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?
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
- Only use areas staff approve; no clues near roads, roofs or locked areas.
Agree every plan with your CAS coordinator first. Safety and ethics for maths CAS.
For puzzle ideas to adapt (never copy), browse competition maths.