HAVE FUN LEARNING AT HOME

MATHEMATICS

EVERYDAY ACTIVITIES

TO ENJOY AT HOME WITH YOUR CHILD

This booklet contains a huge range of activities to enjoy with your child at

home or while out and about. Each of them is a valuable mathematical activity

but best of all, they’re fun!

Involving your child in just a few, key, everyday activities will allow them to

acquire and practise a number of maths skills without even realising they are

learning.

Cooking, making things, shopping and travelling provide plenty of

opportunities for practical mathematics, such as measuring, counting, sorting,

sequencing, using time, and calculating with all four operations (addition,

subtraction, multiplication, division) - to name a few!

So, if you would like to support your child with mathematics but without

burdening and demotivating them with endless “sums”, this is the way ahead

for you - practical, fun maths in a familiar context.

1. Collections of objects - shells, buttons, pretty stones 2. Cars on a journey eg. how many red cars? 3. Animals in a field eg. sheep, cows 4. Stairs up to bed, steps etc 5. Stepping stones in the garden 6. Railings around the school, park, garden 7. Lamp posts, gates, road signs 8. House numbers but emphasising odd and even 9. Sports scores - cricket averages, goal averages 10. Pages in a story book 11. Traffic passing a house and draw graphs, pie charts to represent

data 12. Count up to 10, 20, 100 – backwards and forwards 13. Count buttons, shoes, socks as a child gets dressed 14. Tidy a cupboard or shelf and count the contents eg. tins, shoes,

etc 15. Rows of seeds in the garden and plants in pots etc 16. Count particular vehicles on a journey eg. Eddie Stobart lorries

(Stobbies), motor bikes, etc 17. Use magnetic numbers to make sums on the fridge door 18. Count the legs on pub signs eg. Duke of York, The Red Lion –

make it a game of cricket eg. Duke of York = 2 runs; Dog and Fox = 6 runs, King’s Head = 0 runs (bowled out)

19. Tally charts eg. bird survey 20. On a bus journey count how many people are on

the bus, how many get off, etc

� The main events of the day eg. breakfast, lunch, dinner

� Routines and what comes next � The parts of a recipe, set of instructions � Getting dressed � Ordering playing cards – ace, king, queen etc � Tying shoe laces � The seasons of the year, months of the year � Organising a sponsored event � The instructions to make a cup of tea

♦ Set the table - 1 to 1 correspondence and sort cutlery

♦ Sort buttons, beads, colours of pegs, sweets, biscuits, containers,

seeds for the garden, flowers

♦ Sort clothes for washing - size, colour

♦ Match pairs of socks, gloves, shoes

♦ Order a group of items by size

♦ Thread beads on a string to a set pattern

♦ Sort groceries

� Look at prices

� Calculate change - which coins, use

different combinations

� Decide on coins to pay a bill

� Guess the value of a coin from a description

� Weigh fruit and vegetables in the supermarket

� Count pocket money

� Calculate the price of a holiday from brochures

� Read labels on bottles, packets, in order to discuss

capacity, weight, shape, colour

� Estimate the final bill at the end of shopping

while waiting at the cash out

� Calculate VAT, calculate foreign currency exchange rates

� Purchase litres of petrol and calculate total cost

� Calculate discounts eg. 20% reduction, 50% sale price

� Calculate how many tins fill an area on a shelf using shopping bills

to calculate change

� Estimate how many apples, tomatoes in a pound

� Calculate bank accounts and rates of interest

� Calculate postage on letters using first or second class stamps

� Write and sort shopping lists

� Make rubbings of different coins – can we recognise the value?

� Talk about the different shapes of packets, tins etc

� Calculate the cost of a meal using a menu

� Compare the prices of the same item in different

shops

� Use a collection of receipts as a basis for addition, etc

� Calculate the cost of the contents of a lunch box

� Use a scanner in a supermarket

� Use the till receipt to check the shopping

� Calculate price per pound, kilogram, etc

� Calculate the cost of the family going to the

cinema, swimming baths, etc

� Calculate distances in a journey eg. how much

further, how many miles to the litre?

� Calculate heights of family members - who is

the tallest?

� Weigh the ingredients for baking

� Play with plastic jugs and containers in the bath

� Measure a distance using hand spans, footsteps

� Read a map to calculate the distance of a journey

� Use non-standard measures to decide a

measurement

� Compare sizes of clothes - bigger than, smaller than

� Calculate areas eg. how many squares on the patio, how many

tiles in the shower?

� Calculate for DIY activities eg. estimate amount of carpet,

curtain material, paint etc

� Look at bottles and discuss capacity of various

containers

� Record the growth of plants in the garden

� Estimate the length of the holiday journey

� Draw simple plans of the bedroom, the kitchen, the garden

� Look at road signs to discuss distances

� Compare the shoe sizes within the family

� Identify position on an OS map using co-ordinates and grid

references

� Calculate capacity of a coke can, milk carton, etc

� Read the scale on weighing machines and calculate

calibrations

� Measure out ingredients for a recipe using different

types of spoons

� Compare journey distances using different routes

� Calculate the capacity of the bath using a variety of containers

� Convert miles to kilometres on a car journey

� Discuss oven temperature when cooking

� Keep a monthly diary of own weight

� Match metric weight of article to that on the label

� Use different length measuring devices eg. rulers, tape

measures, metre rules

� Weigh different toys to find heaviest, lightest, two

the same, etc

� Talk about thermostats in the home

� Look at water consumption/wastage in the home

� Measure the growth of plants using non-standard measures

� Estimate the amount of water used in one day at home

� Estimate the amount of time needed to mow the lawn

� Make orange squash – how many cups can you get from one

bottle?

� Weigh unusual items eg. pebbles

� Discuss the weight of your pet at the vets

� Estimate with string the circumference/perimeter of a puddle

made by pouring 1 litre of water on the ground

� Estimate, then count the squares contained in the outline of a

hand or foot

� Make clothes for toys to scale

� Wrap parcels - what amount of paper, string do we need?

� Look at the clock - identify the numbers � Tell the time � Calculate how long a journey will take looking at train, bus, ferry,

airline timetables � Use TV guide to calculate the length of programmes � Programme the video, the microwave � Discuss the seasons � Look at a calendar - days, weeks, months � Plan out birthdays and discuss how many

weeks away they are � Estimate how long it will take to walk, cycle,

drive to school � Identify the day of the week on a newspaper � Calculate time differences in foreign countries � Calculate the age given a date, eg. I was born in 1983 - how old

am I? The building was built in 1860 - how old is it? � Discuss the age of family members, putting them in order � Calculate the time if the clock is 10 minutes fast, 10 minutes

slow � Try to find a clock in every shop on a visit to town � Look at the posting times on the post box � Discuss events in the day eg. tea time, bed time, bath time � Set the radio alarm � Be silent for a minute – count 60 seconds � Look at different types of clocks � Look at the headstones in a graveyard to calculate ages, etc

� Use Teletext on TV

� Use vocabulary of time – decade, century, millennium

� Use different clocks and watches - analogue and digital, Arabic and Roman numerals

♦ Lay the table for four people

♦ Plan a TV viewing session

♦ Plan a day out for the family

♦ Plan a picnic for six people – how many sandwiches, apples, cakes will we need?

♦ Ask what do you think will happen if ……?

In relation to planning:

♦ Menus eg. scaling recipes up or down

♦ School teams

♦ Sports day

♦ Family day out to a theme park, museum, etc ♦ Family day out to the shops

♦ Count digits on car number plates to find

biggest, smallest, total

♦ Share out sweets, toys etc in groups of 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

etc to help with times tables

♦ Look for numbers - in shops, on buses, doors, cars

♦ Use telephone numbers - add the digits to find the nearest to 20,

30 etc

♦ Use telephone numbers - value of each digit

♦ Use sandwiches to show fractions 1/2, 1/4

♦ Use a pizza to show fractions 1/2, 1/4,

1/6, 1/8,

2/3 etc

♦ Look at house numbers along the street

♦ Look at sports results in newspapers– calculate average scores,

average crowds, etc

♦ Look at speed limits on a journey

♦ Find ‘big’ numbers in newspapers eg. millions

♦ Press the digits on the telephone to make a call with

an adult

♦ Look for numbers in the home eg. washing machine,

thermometer, cooker

♦ Check the temperature in different parts of the world in a

newspaper

♦ Calculate the age of a car, wagon, coach

from the number plate

♦ Look for numbers on a visit to town – can you find a number 5, 6,

etc?

♦ Collect data and represent it in pictorial form eg. graph, pie chart

♦ Read meters eg. electricity, gas

♦ Use TV weather forecast to discuss temperature, wind speed,

wind direction, etc

♦ Fold towels to show ½, ¼

♦ Use the appropriate vocabulary eg. position – on, over, up, down,

above, below

♦ Keep a height chart in the kitchen/bedroom

• Skipping - every skip count, 2, 3, 4 etc

• Hop scotch

• Ludo

• Snakes & Ladders

• Dominoes

• Cards - number sequences

• Bingo

• Dice

• Yahtzee

• Darts

• Archery

• Heads & Tails and keep a tally

• Draughts

• Monopoly

• Computer programmes

• Beetle

• Bridge

• Snap

• Connect 4

• Counting games to practise times tables

• I spy a number in town, on a journey

• Number jigsaws

• Rummy

• Patience

• Clock golf, croquet, crazy golf on holiday to help counting

• Snooker

• Pool

• Number Lotto

• Dot to dot with numbers

• Skittles

• Ten pin bowling

• Polydron

• Happy families

• Whist

• Shuttle table

• Quoits

• Newmarket

• Pontoon

• Cribbage

• Number crosswords, puzzles

• Rubik cube

• Pub name cricket

• Chess

• Battleships

• Tangrams

� Sing nursery rhymes and songs � Clap in different sequences � Read stories with a number element � Play games of chance � Play calculator fun games � Look for shapes in the environment eg. windows � Look for and make patterns eg. bricks in a wall, square tiles on

a floor � Play with a number line or number square � Use a thermometer to read temperature - identify negative

numbers � Identify angles eg. right angles � Look at symmetry eg. petals on a flower � Make 3D shapes in card � Tessellate shapes eg. tiles in the bathroom � Grab straws – estimating a group of 10, 12, 15, etc � Count how many items will fit into a match box or film canister � Use fridge magnet numbers and sponge numbers around the

house � Make a 50cm string circle – how many items will fit in it? � Make a scrap book of numbers

� Learn times tables - tape on a car journey

� Use cross stitch and mosaics - shape, counting and symmetry

� Make a mirror book to show symmetry – draw half a butterfly, Christmas tree, house

� Make sandcastles and discuss different shapes

� Use salt dough, plasticine to make numbers

� Use a compass when on a walk to check direction, degrees, angles