As mathematicians, we will make mistakes but as we become more confident and practise more, we have the chance to become more accurate. In the arithmetic paper, there might be aspects that you understand but a little further practice would make you even better. On this page of my super-duper whizzy website, I have shared a few great tools, activities and games to help develop a range of arithmetical skills - mental and formal.

TdM Brie-Anna de Mouse, creator and star of Maths with a Mouse

Mental Maths

Brie-Anna's Guide to Satsy Arithmetic


This activity from Mathsframe is perfect if you simply want to develop the mental maths skills that appear in an arithmetic paper. I understand that these can seem simple to many great mathematicians but we want to have the best possible accuracy so we need to practise, practise, practise!

Who doesn't love using dominoes and loop cards in maths? This activity is great for developing you mental maths skills and, as you can see from the image above, there are lots of opportunities from you to practise a wide array of skills. Let's go loopy! (Sometimes marshmallows make me go loopy!)

Do you like arithmetic? Yes, I do!

Do you like puzzles? Yes, I do!

Do you like arithmetic puzzles? No, I don't - I love them!

Enjoy Four Operations Puzzles from mathsbot.com. You might need a pencil and paper as you won't be able to put the answers directly into the grid online but you can try lots of challenges and even use negative and decimal numbers!

In Divides Exactly, apply your understanding of the Divisidivisibility rules, but make sure you do not fill in any boxes that would have a remainder within their answer!

Want more games to practise your addition and subtraction skills? You got it! Clickety click the big button below!

BONUS CONTENT (Mental Maths)

If you truly believe that you are a master of mental maths, you need to take on these challenges. They may seem easy but time is not on your side! Good luck, brave mousematicians!

Formal Calculations

Need to develop a particular formal skill? Below are links to several great activities. Knowing if you are correct will happen instantly and that really helps you to understand any errors and that leads to you understanding the questions better and that leads to greater success and accuracy and that leads to a happier mathematician and that leads to a happy adorable mouse!

If you want any top tips about these methods before tackling these tasks, you might want to check out my calculation section using my very handy buttons below.

Feeling eager? Want to complete a full arithmetic paper that marks itself? Wll, thanks to mathbot, you can do just that! 

It won't give two marks for long division or long multiplication, but it can be a really useful tool during revision.

Perhaps you want to save paper and have all the questions on one page or one screen! If so, this is the best mathsbot.com link for you! 

Oh no...we've run out of activities. Don't worry, there are plenty of other places to find great games and challenges. Hit the button below for more fun!