Counting 10

Counting 10 is a puzzle initially designed for a Montesorri group. It does however provide a fun challenge for any age.

There are ten hardwood pieces that each has a number laser engraved on the back and a grid of the same unit on the front. The odd and even numbered pieces are made from different woods.

It comes in an unsolved state with the ‘seven’ piece sitting outside the main space on the base.

There are a number of challenges that can be attempted with this puzzle and here are some ideas:

Children aged 3-5 – Can you find the correct piece based on the number of squares in the grid?
Ages 5-10 – Pick a number between 11 and 55. Then try and find the blocks that when combined add up to that number.
Ages 8 to adult – Can you fit all ten pieces into the frame, there are quite a few solutions but it can still be a good challenge for children.
– Next up you can try and fit all the pieces into the frame with only the grid side of the pieces showing. This is more challenging but there are still multiple solutions.
– Finally can you make a right angled triangle with a side of 10 along the two right hand sides, the hypotenuse being the stepped side.