Teaching or supporting a child to learn Maths can seem like a daunting task – but it doesn’t have to be.

In fact, there are plenty of opportunities to get creative and have fun with maths, whilst improving skills and knowledge.

I’ve outlined 16 free resources and activities to boost maths learning at home or in the classroom, below.

1. Play Strategy Games

Have fun! Play battleships, Lego, games of strategy, do puzzles together, build a fort, make a newspaper bridge across the living room and think about how to make it strong enough to hold toy cars etc.

2. Design Your Own Board Game

Design your own maths board game, colour it in, make it beautiful and then have loads of fun playing it.

3. NRICH Maths

NRich maths has a wealth of activities and a dedicated primary interactive resource page with games and a whole host of maths fun.

4. I See Maths

Gareth Metcalfe will be offering a series of free daily home maths lessons from Mon 23.3.20 for primary school age children, offering challenges and games and stimulating children to think mathematically.

5. OxfordOwl

OxfordOwl is for children aged 3-11 and includes a selection of maths games, activity sheets and videos.

6. MathsBot – Manipulatives

Use the online counters, coins and xx etc. to help your child solve some addition, subtraction, multiplication and division problems you have set for them (or they have set for you!) and ask your child to PROVE their answer is right using the resources too. Play, make patterns and talk about them with the manipulatives.

7. MathsBot – Loop Cards

Generate a set of loop cards for addition or whatever you want to practice, (you can amend the difficulty in the top right hand corner). Print them off, cut them out and share them between you and your child(ren). Whoever has ‘start’ puts that card down. Whoever has the answer at the top of one of their cards, places it next to the first card and play continues until the loop is complete.

You can add competition by playing first person to play all of their cards is the winner or by having the cards face down and players take turns to turn one over and look for ‘start’, then the answer, then the next answer and so on…

8. White Rose Maths

White Rose Maths have prepared a series of 5 maths lessons for each year group (Years 1-8) and will be adding 5 more each week. Every lesson has a video and activity.

9. Countdown

Watch Countdown together and have a go at the numbers round. Generate your own numbers and play without the time limit but discuss your approaches and strategies – what did you notice first that enabled you to reach the answer.?

10. Paper Aeroplanes

Make paper aeroplanes and measure whose flies the furthest. Try to better your distance. Unfold the aeroplane and discuss what shapes you can see, colour them in in different categories ie isosceles triangles in one design, quadrilaterals another.

11. Star Jumps

How many star jumps can you do in 30 seconds? How many do you estimate you could do in 2 minutes then? Test it! Repeat for other activities; how many goals can you score in 1 minute? How long can you hold a handstand for?

12. Play Cards

Teach your child(ren) some of your favourite card games. If you know how to play Newmarket, you could use matchsticks or rolled up bits of paper if you don’t have a jar or bag of pennies to play with.

13. Skip Counting by 2 Song

The fun way to practice your two times tables, from NumberRock

14. Times Tables Rockstars

Times Tables Rockstars are offering affected schools free full access to their platform for multiplication and division – throughout any school closure.

15. Third Space Maths Hub

Resources to raise maths attainment for all pupils, Third Space now have an area for parents.

16. National Centre for Excellence in the Teaching of Mathematics

Support for parents and carers helping children with maths. Registration is free.

Summary

Please keep in mind that this is probably quite a scary times for children (and parents alike), so although learning is to be encouraged, we don’t want to cause more stress. It’s also really important that you look after yourself! This blog – 4 Ways to Stay Mindful Whilst Working from Home – could help.

If you would like more resources in other subjects such as English, Music, Science, please feel free to browse our page for parents here:  Resources For Parents. We are trying to keep this page as up to date as possible and will keep adding to it as the weeks go on, so keep an eye out.

In the meantime, enjoy your maths practice and stay safe!

About the Author – Helen Grundy – Education Adviser

Helen qualified with a first class honours degree in English and Education Studies in 1998. A significant amount of her degree was spent studying in Amsterdam under the Hogeschool Holland, adding a TESOL element to her degree and enabling study and understanding of international approaches to education. Helen’s teaching career then took place across Staffordshire in infant, first and primary schools, taking on various roles in subject leadership, as SENCo and SLT, and achieving the NCTL Leadership Pathways award.

Noted successful practice resulted in Helen becoming a Leading Maths Teacher, supporting colleagues across the county. This became a role which she increasingly enjoyed and led naturally into a role in consultancy and advising.

Helen joined Services for Education in 2015 as an Education Adviser. Her role was primarily as a Maths Adviser however since joining the company has also become manager of the highly successful Health for Life in Primary Schools programme, NQT Manager as part of the LA approved Appropriate Body for NQT Induction and a member of the Statutory Assessment team.