Fractions OutdoorsAimTeaching fractions outdoors with natural hands-on manipulatives and activities will help pupils develop a conceptual understanding of fractions. Make sure you explicitly make links between fractions (including percentages and decimals), multiplication and division, as this will benefit learners moving to abstract calculations.

Fractions of AmountsYou will need: Cards with fractions of amounts on them.eg ¼ of 12, 3/5 of 15 etc., supply of natural materials; chalk, whiteboard and pen.

Children find natural materials to demonstrate and solve the problem Photograph their model.

Leaf Fractions Counting Ask each child to find a leaf (ideally of the same

species and size), then ask them to split each leaf in half.

The children then take it in turns to place their leaf on a line starting with half of one leaf, then two halves of one leaf, two halves of one leaf plus half of another leaf and so on.

As each leaf is placed, the group can count half, one, one and a half, two etc. You could also chalk the fractions on the line and the decimal equivalent

A photograph could be taken or the leaves stuck onto paper to use as a display back in the classroom.

Variations: Count backwards in fractions.

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After counting in fractions, children can count forward and back in decimal equivalents.

This works well with thirds and quarters, if you use scissors to cut up the leaves.

Use Natural Materials to Create Fractions and Link Factseg collecting 20 sticks

Ask the children to write down the number facts.

eg If you know 4 x 5 = 20, what else do you know?

4 x 5 = 20 5 x 4 = 20

20 ÷ 4 = 5 20 ÷ 5 = 4

¼ of 20 = 5 1/5 of 20 = 4

¼ of 20 = 5 2/4 of 20 = 10 ¾ of 20 = 15 4/4 of 20 = 20

25% of 20 = 5 20% of 20 = 4

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Representing FractionsYou will need: A list of fractions for children to represent; natural materials eg sticks, stones, flowers etc, hoops and skipping ropes; chalks, whiteboards etc.

Children can work in pairs or small groups. Provide them with a fraction (or equivalent fraction) to represent using

natural materials. Or represent fractions by chalking on the playground / using the hoops and

skipping ropes etc.

Find equivalent fractions with denominators of 10 and 100 use natural resources to make diagrams to represent them.

You could then look at their decimal equivalents.

Variation: Make a frame on the ground using sticks and ask the children to create a

pattern using natural materials with specific instructions eg half of the pattern must be red materials, or 25% must be leaves etc.

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Fraction Wall Children can use sticks or leaves to make a fraction wall.

Pass the Bean BagA game for counting in fractions and / or decimals.

You will need: Bean bag, ball or soft toy.

Children stand in a circle. As they count, they have to pass the beanbag to the next person to answer. Count forwards and backwards in fraction families or decimals.

Variation Instead of going sequentially round the circle, children can pass the

beanbag across the circle. You can also play this game having a large piece of rope / ribbon tied in a

circle (or a racoon circle). The knot gets passed round the circle as the children count.

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Fraction HopscotchYou will need: Chalk to mark out a hopscotch grid on the playground with fractions inside each square, bean bag.

Players take turns, standing in a line at the start/finish line. Each player will go through the following steps:

They toss a beanbag into square one. They then hop over the beanbag on the way out and pick it up on the way back. Each time the player hops over the beanbag, they say the equivalent fractions of the beanbag square.

Once the player’s turn is complete, they pass the beanbag to the next player in line and go to the end of the line.

After each player successfully completes a turn with the beanbag in square one, on their next turn they toss the beanbag into square two and so on until the player has completed all the squares.

Variations: The hopscotch squares can be set up in different ways to eg work on

individual fraction families or a mixture of fractions, say decimal equivalents, say the fraction in words etc.

Each time children land on a fraction they have to say the fraction of an agreed amount. eg if 24 was the amount and land on ¼, the answer would be 6. Good also to look at when you can’t (easily!) find a fraction of an amount eg ¼ of 27.

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Ordering Fractions and Decimals (1)You will need: Chalk, whiteboard and pen for each child.

Draw three large circles on the playground – big enough for the group to stand in.

Mark one with ‘smaller than’, one with ‘equals’ and one with ‘bigger than’. Each child writes a fraction (or decimal) on their whiteboard. Choose one child to stand in the middle circle. Their fraction or decimal is

the starting point. All of the other children, one at a time, must decide where their fraction or

decimal belongs and stand in the correct circle. Repeat the game with different fractions and decimals and choosing a

different child’s fraction or decimal as the starting point.

Ordering Fractions and Decimals (2)You will need: Whiteboard and pen for each child.

Split class into two equal groups. Group A children each write a fraction or

decimal on their whiteboard and then stands in a line, perhaps based on height order. They hold up their fractions.

Group B children also stand in a line, tallest to shortest, facing Group A.

Can the children in Group B draw the correct symbols on their whiteboards to show the relationship between the two fractions/ decimals opposite them, i.e. <, > or =?

Swap over so that Group A becomes Group B.

Based on an activity from TES.

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Race to Find the Fractions of an AmountA fun activity which gets children talking about fractions to solve the questions.

You will need: Each team needs a bucket of objects eg beads, stones etc. (Suggest you have minimum of 6o in each bucket); a collection jar or pot; whiteboards or pencil and paper to record calculations; a list of fractions that you will want the children to work out.

Pupils work in small teams eg 6. Each team has a bucket filled with beads (stones would be good too). Place the buckets some distance away. The first pair of pupils from each of the teams are asked to collect a fraction

of the amount eg 2/20 of the beads. Give points out to the first pair back with the correct number of beads in

their collecting jar. Review how children worked out the fraction of amounts. Replace all of the beads into the bucket and run the race again to find

another fraction of the amount.

Variations: The next pair of pupils could then to collect eg 1/6 of the beads remaining in

the bucket. Give the children the choice of 2 fractions but they have to choose the

fraction that would give them the most beads. eg ¾ and 5/6 of 24.

Fraction ScoreThrowing games provide opportunities for understanding fractions.

You will need: Hoop or circular targets drawn on the playground, bean bags (or pine cones etc).

eg Throw 5 bean bags into a hoop or circle on the playground.

How many make it into the circle and how many are outside?

Make the link that 4 out of 5 bean bags are inside the hoop and that we can say and write this as a fraction as four fifths 4/5.

How do we write the fraction for outside the hoop?

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Websites: Outdoor Maths: Using sticks to understand fractions https://creativestarlearning.co.uk/maths-outdoors/outdoor-maths-using-sticks-to-understand-fractions/

Fractions, Decimals and Percentages Outdoor Activitieshttps://creativestarlearning.co.uk/maths-outdoors/fractions-decimals-and-percentages-outdoor-activities/

A fraction game to play on the playground.http://mathnspire.blogspot.com/2011/11/fraction-review-math-lab.html?m=1

Big Space FractionsAn active approach to support children with the visualisation of fractionshttps://www.ltl.org.uk/resources/big-space-fractions

Find That FractionA revision activity for simple fractions, mixed fractions, and improper fractions.https://www.educateoutside.com/resource/fractions-find-that-fraction/

Over 100 Ideas for Outdoor Numeracy for KS1 and KS2 by Sue Dixon founder of The Thinking Child. Includes fraction, decimals and percentages activities. https://creativestarlearning.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Outdoor-Numeracy-Pack-LowRes.pdf

Leaf Percentages from Educate OutsideA differentiated activity involving sorting leaves and looking at different percentages as well as converting between percentages, decimals, and fractions.https://www.educateoutside.com/resource/leaf-percentages/

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