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Multi-Step Word Problems: Crack Cases as a Maths Detective

Multi-Step Word Problems: Crack Cases as a Maths Detective

Learn to solve multi-step word problems with all four operations by cracking detective cases, drawing bar models and checking every answer.

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What you'll learn

  • How to choose the operation for each step of a word problem
  • Drawing part-whole and comparison bar models to show a problem's structure
  • When a mental method works and when column methods are safer
  • Checking answers by estimating with rounding and using inverse operations
  • Deciding whether to round a remainder up or down in context
  • Planning problems with all four operations and ignoring unneeded facts

Chapter by chapter

  1. Multi-step addition and subtraction problems: choosing the operation Free to try

    Year 6 maths · 1

  2. Addition and subtraction problems: choosing methods and checking answers

    Year 6 maths · 1

  3. Multiplication and division word problems, including remainders

    Year 6 maths · 2

  4. Multi-step problems with addition, subtraction, multiplication and division

    Year 6 maths · 2 Year 6 maths · 1

  5. Final challenge: mixed multi-step word problems (8 questions)

What the chapters cover in the national curriculum in England:

  1. Year 6 maths: Solve addition and subtraction multi-step problems in contexts, deciding which operations and methods to use and why
  2. Year 6 maths: Solve problems involving addition, subtraction, multiplication and division

About this adventure

Multi-Step Word Problems is an interactive maths game that teaches children aged 9–11 to solve word problems needing more than one calculation, using addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. It follows the Year 6 national curriculum in England.

Guided by Inspector Ivy, a detective owl, players treat each problem as a case to crack. They build bar models piece by piece to see the parts and the whole, choose the operation for every step and type their answers on a number pad. Along the way they pick between mental and column methods, estimate by rounding, check results with inverse operations (the calculation that undoes another) and decide whether a remainder should be rounded up or down.

Hints appear after a wrong answer, an optional warm-up refreshes the four operations, and an eight-question final challenge mixes everything together.

Questions and answers

What is a multi-step word problem?

A multi-step word problem is a maths question that needs two or more calculations, where the answer to one step is used in the next. For example, finding the change after buying 28 tickets at £7 each means multiplying first, then subtracting.

How do you know which operation to use in a word problem?

Think about what is really happening in the story rather than relying on single words like 'more'. Add when you know the parts, subtract when you know the whole and one part, multiply for equal groups, and divide to share or group a total.

Do you round a remainder up or down in a word problem?

Whether you round a remainder up or down depends on what the story asks. If everyone must fit, round up, such as booking an extra minibus for leftover people; if the question asks for full groups, round down, such as counting only full egg boxes.

What age is this multi-step word problems game for?

The game is designed for children aged 9 to 11 and matches Year 6 maths in England (Key Stage 2). Confident Year 5 pupils can also play it, especially after the optional warm-up on the four operations.

What does the game include and how long does it take?

The game has an optional warm-up, four chapters with animated introductions and guided cases, and an eight-question final challenge. Playing everything takes about 50 minutes, and children can start any chapter from the case board.

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