Help your Students Understand the 100s Chart with Fun Number Puzzles

The 100s chart is an important tool for students to learn early on in their education. It helps them understand the base 10 system, and how numbers are related to one another. Many students find it difficult to understand the 100s chart at first, but with a little practice, they can get the hang of it! In this blog post, we will discuss some fun number puzzles that can help your students learn about the 100s chart. Let’s get started!

Download your FREE number puzzles worksheet at – simply print, copy and use to see where your student’s understanding of the 100s chart is.

Why Teach the 100’s Chart?

The 100s chart is a foundation for place value, skip counting, and addition and subtraction. It provides a visual representation of numbers that helps solidify these concepts for students. In addition, the chart can be used as a reference tool when students are working on math problems.

What Patterns are on the 100s Chart to Help Students?

There are many patterns on the 100s chart that can help students understand place value and the base 10 system. For example, every ten numbers are grouped together by a line. This helps students see that each number in a group represents one ten. In addition, the numbers on the 100s chart increase by ones as you move to the right. Going down, the chart is counting by 10s, no matter what the number. Asking the students to tell you what patterns they see is a worthwhile exercise. Some answers may include:

• The numbers go up by 1 as you move across
• The numbers go down by 10s as you move down
• There are 10 numbers in each column and in each row
• All of the even numbers are in a column
• All of the odd numbers are in a column

Easy Ways to Teach the 100s Chart

There are many ways to teach the 100s chart. Here are a few easy ones:

Play Guess my Number – choose a number on the 100s chart and students ask questions about that number until they guess the correct number. They may ask: “Is your number odd or even?” “Does your number have a 4 in it?” “Is your number higher than 50?” Use the big chart that you have on display in your classroom. The perfect whole class game! Record how many guess it takes students to guess the number. See if you can beat your record!

Use a blank 100s charts and ask students to fill in the missing numbers. You can also use a 100s chart with the numbers already filled in and ask students to identify patterns or highlight certain numbers. Ask the students to find at least 10 different patterns on the chart! Download these FREE worksheets on Teachers Pay Teachers.

Use Number Puzzles as a warm up to your maths lesson. Number Puzzles are simply 100s charts printed on coloured paper, laminated and cut between to make puzzle shapes. Store in a zip lock bag and then you have different sets made. You can download my templates here.

Number puzzles are one of my most favourite warm up activities or fast finishers activity. When making number puzzles, make a variety of numbers (eg. 1-20, 1-50, 1-100, 100-200) so you can easily differentiate within your class. Print puzzles on different colours and keep in zip lock bags to keep each set seperate. Catering for all learners is important to keep them all engaged and learning so this is a simple way! I usually alternate between working with others and completing the puzzles individually so students can get the hang of the 100s chart.

The 100’s Chart is such an important tool for students to learn and understand. With a little practice, your students will be able to use the chart with ease!