It’s time to push your fourth-graders to wake up their brains and solve some simple math problems. Starting the lesson off with a math word problem is ideal. It’s the chance for the children to wake up and get their brains into gear. So, these math word problems are some of the best to get your students thinking.

Simple Math Word Problems to Challenge Your Students

1. A computer randomly selects these numbers, 378,947. If you rearrange the numbers, what is the largest number possible?
2. Janes buys 300 pairs of sneakers. Half are white with pink stripes, and the other half are blue with white strips. How many pairs have pink stripes?
3. Mr. Combs gives his students this puzzle pattern. Which numbers come next? 1, 3, 5, 7, 9…
4. Jack buys a bicycle for $225. Robert’s cost $45 less. How much did Robert’s bicycle cost?
5. Walter buys his grandson a baseball cap for $4.75. He buys 2 ice cream cones for $5.25 and drinks for $3.50. How much money did Walter spend in total?
6. A pet groomer has 12 poodles, 7 beagles, 3 Great Danes, and 19 Yorkshire Terriers. How many dogs does the groomer have?
7. 125 people visited a local museum in January. 200 people visit in February, and 478 people visit in March. How many visitors did the museum have?
8. Vivian buys a computer for home. It costs $250. She buys a second for $478 and a printer for $52.50. How much in total did Vivian spend?
9. Michael’s shoe store is having a 5-day sales event. 1250 shoes were sold in total. How many shoes on average were sold each day?
10. Clark buys 3 pairs of socks for $4.55. Jesse buys 5 pairs of socks for $6.55, and Jane spends $4.25 on 6 pairs. Who spent the least on socks?
11. Annie collects dolls. Every year she is given 1 doll for Christmas and 1 doll for her birthday. She has a collection of 60 dolls. How old is Annie?
12. Mia’s train leaves at 8.45 a.m. and arrives at her destination at 11.25 p.m. How long was the train journey?
13. Jake drives to his parent’s home in New York City. He arrives on Christmas Eve and stays for a total of 15 days. On what date does Jake depart?
14. Michael walks to the store every day. He departs his home at 7.45 and stops to chat for 15 minutes with one neighbor and 10 minutes with another. At what time did Michael arrive home?
15. James Wheeler drives 2000 miles in a race. For ¼ of the race, he drove with his friend in the car. For how many miles did James drive in the race alone?
16. Freya buys a soft drink at Kath’s Café for $1.75. She also buys a sandwich for $6.00 and a cookie for $1.25. How much change does she get back if she hands over a $20 note?
17. Bob’s Bakery bakes 20,570 cookies for the Thanksgiving weekend. 145 cookies were left on Monday. What’s the total number of cookies sold?
18. Charles bakes cupcakes for a local fundraiser. He asks for $1.00 per cupcake and sells 457. How much money does Charles raise?
19. A pet rescue center has 10 dogs, 33 cats, 25 birds, and 50 tropical fish. What is the total number of animals in the center?
20. Dina picks 3 apples per minute. She spends 15 minutes picking apples and drops 3. What’s the total number of apples left?
21. Daniel leaves work at 6.55. He spends 5 minutes walking on foot and 45 minutes on a train. At what time does Daniel arrive home?
22. Joanna visits the dentist at 3.35 p.m. It takes 1 hour and 15 minutes before she leaves. At what time does Joanna leave the dentist?
23. Jeff leaves for work at 7.35 a.m. It takes 45 minutes by car to arrive at the office. Every morning he stops off for coffee for 10 minutes. At what time does Jeff arrive at work?
24. A publishing company offers a school 1000 free books. ¼ is given shared equally between 5 classes. How many books are left?
25. Cassie tutors her younger siblings every day after school for 1 hour. At the weekend, she tutors for 2 hours per day. How many hours each week does Cassie tutor?
26. Lori has a collection of 200 stuffed animals. ¼ are teddy bears. ½ are elephants. How many bears does Lori have in her collection?
27. Amanda collects seashells every time she visits the beach. In 1 year, she collects over 1000. ¾ of the shells are from a local beach, and the rest are from her overseas vacation. How many shells did she collect while on vacation?
28. William starts his homework at 5.45 and takes 1 hour and 25 minutes to complete. Andrew starts at 4.35 and takes 2 hours exactly to finish. Who finishes their homework first?
29. Lewis buys 1 large bar of chocolate. He plans to share it equally among his 3 brothers. What is the total percentage of chocolate each brother will receive?
30. Danielle is given a box of chocolates. There are 36 bite-sized chocolates in total. ¼ have a caramel center, 7 chocolates have peanuts, and the rest are truffles. How many truffles are there?
31. John, Jerry, Cody, Nina, and Michael go to the beach. ¾ of them go swimming. How many remain on the beach?
32. Mrs. Smith puts coins into a jar every time she goes shopping for 1 month. The jar weighs 3 pounds in January. In February, the jar weighs 5.5 pounds. Which is the difference in weight?
33. Thomas practices football 2 hours a day, 5 days a week. John practices 4 hours 3 times a week. Who spent more hours at football practice?
34. Jimmy begins his run at 6.30 a.m. Katie runs at 7.30 a.m. Both meet at Lou’s café at 8.45. How long does Katie run for?
35. A plane is due to leave the airport at 10.45 p.m. It’s scheduled to arrive at its destination by 4.30 a.m. How long is the flight in total?
36. The Jenson family leaves their home at 9.30 a.m. and arrives at the train station by 10.25 a.m. How long did the family spend driving to the station?
37. 10 passengers get onto a busy commuter train. 3 get off at the next stop, and another 5 board the train. No one boards at the next station but 2 depart. What’s the total number of passengers on the train?
38. Joanna buys 25 pairs of sneakers. 3 of them are given as gifts to her best friends. 5 are returned to the store, and 8 are donated. How many pairs of sneakers do Joanna have left?
39. At Harry’s local store, he buys a jar of pickles, 2 chocolate bars, and milk. It costs $2.00 for the chocolate, $1.75 for the pickles, and $1.85 for the milk. How much does Harry spend in total?
40. Yanick finds 2 marbles. The first weighs 0.08 ounces and the second 0.8 ounces. Which marble weighs the most?
41. Danielle has 12 books at home. Katie has ¼ more books, and Jenny has ½ less. How many books do Katie and Jenny have?
42. Rita spends $10.75 on groceries. She gives the cashier a $10 and $5 paper bill. How much change does Rita get back?
43. A group of 25 divers is onboard a ship. 3 dives at 10.20 a.m., 8 dive 10 minutes later, and the rest dives 30 minutes after them. What time did the last group of divers enter the water?
44. 15 people enter a competition. 3 are disqualified, and 4 are eliminated. How many are left to compete for the prize?
45. Debra purchases 3 pairs of sneakers at $23.50 each and 1 shirt. What is the total she spent on clothing?
46. Jane’s cell phone plan has 250 minutes of call time. She uses up 134 minutes. How many minutes does Jane have left to use?
47. The Express train is scheduled to depart at 3.45 p.m. but is delayed by 1 hour and 35 minutes. At what time does the train leave the station?
48. Louise buys 3 pairs of jeans, each costing $24.50. She returns 1 pair and buys another for $18.75. What is the total amount Louise spends on jeans?
49. 100 cookies are baked on Saturday. ¼ of the cookies are sold by Saturday evening. Another ¼ is sold by Sunday evening. How many cookies are leftover on Monday morning?
50. Elizabeth drives 56 miles each day to get to work. She works 5 days a week. How many miles does Elizabeth cover in total?