See all Activities for children

Around the house

There's maths in all the every day activities you already do together.

There are plenty of opportunities to play with numbers, and help your child feel positive about maths. Always point out that you are doing maths - this helps children understand that maths isn't scary.

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Tips & ideas

  • Talk about numbers in sport. How many points does your team need to avoid relegation? How many goals/tries/conversions/points/runs has your team scored this season?
  • Cooking. Measure ingredients and set the timer together. Talk about fractions in cooking, for example ask them how many quarter cups make a cup.
  • Talk about proportions when you make a cup of tea or squash as them how much milk or how much water they're using.
  • Talk about the shape and size of objects. Use the internet to find interesting facts like tallest and shortest people, or biggest and smallest buildings etc.
  • Talk about time. For example get them to work out what time you need to leave the house to get to school on time.
  • Look for maths on TV, newspapers, magazines and talk about it together.
  • Use newspapers. Talk to your child about percentages in special offers, the probability in the weather reports, the length of TV shows and compare the salaries in the jobs section.
  • Solve maths problems at home. For example 'we have 3 pizzas cut into quarters, if we eat 10 quarters, how many will be left?’
  • Talk about shape, size and quantity. Use the internet to find interesting size facts like most and least populated cities, highest mountains or deepest valleys etc.

What skills are we practising?

  • Measuring
  • Counting
  • Addition
  • Subtraction
  • Multiplication
  • Division
  • Fractions
  • Estimation
  • Handling data
  • Comparison
  • Pattern
  • Order
  • Problem solving and reasoning
  • Shape

For ideas, look at:

All external resources have been reviewed and recommended by our Parental Engagement Pedagogical team. (External links will open in a new tab).

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Family Maths Toolkit Everyday Activity Packs

Each pack contains 18 activities which are fun, creative and will get you and your child talking about everyday maths.

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Play with your food! How to Make Shapes with Scones

Making scones from classic geometric shapes.

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Does This Sound about Right?

A scientist makes a set of estimates of various physical quantities. Do the answers sound about right, or has the scientist made any significant mistakes?

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Activities for Secondary School Students

Loads of ideas from NRICH for you to explore. It says it's for teachers but you can use it too.

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Measuring Activities Around the House

Ideas for measuring activities around the house.

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Investigative Maths Based on Real Life Situations

Ideas for investigative maths based on real life situations.

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More ideas for 10-13 year olds

Maths and money

Games

Out and about

Books and TV