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Problem Solving
Connect 4 Factors
Playing solo: The player must fill the grid with the counters from both boxes. They must avoid lining up four numbers with a common factor (other than one).
Playing duo: Each player has a box of counters to choose from. Take it in turns to drop a counter into the game board. The winner is the first to line up four numbers with a common factor (other than one).
There are nine squares shown. The squares have side lengths of 1 , 4 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 14 , 15 and 18 cm. They can be fitted together with no gaps and no overlaps to form a rectangle. How?
Factors and Multiples
The aim of the game is to try and make the longest chain possible by connecting factors and multiples.
Thinking Skills
In this activity your children will be working on capacity. They must create a given amount in one of the containers in the least amount of moves. Sounds simple eh?
The game has different levels to complete and will really get your children thinking.
Super for outside the box thinking.
Puppies Puzzle
The puppies need to go to sleep. There needs to be an even amount of puppies in each basket to make this happen. How many ways can they be sorted?
Broken Calculator
This is a great activity that encourage the children to use limited numbers and functions to make totals.
The children can progress through the levels to challenge themselves even further.
Pets Puzzle
Can you solve the Pet shop Puzzle? Mr Jones sells two kinds of animals and there are 44 animal legs in the shop. Over half of the pets are puppies. How many puppies and budgies are there in the pet shop?
River Puzzle
How can you safely bring the goat, wolf and cabbage across the river?
The sum of each side of the triangle should equal the number in the centre of the triangular shape.
The first player to make a square on the grid wins. Encourage your children to think about developing winning strategies and movement patterns.
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Problem Solving
A selection of resources containing a wide range of open-ended tasks, practical tasks, investigations and real life problems, to support investigative work and problem solving in primary mathematics.
Problem Solving in Primary Maths - the Session
Quality Assured Category: Mathematics Publisher: Teachers TV
In this programme shows a group of four upper Key Stage Two children working on a challenging problem; looking at the interior and exterior angles of polygons and how they relate to the number of sides. The problem requires the children to listen to each other and to work together co-operatively. The two boys and two girls are closely observed as they consider how to tackle the problem, make mistakes, get stuck and arrive at the "eureka" moment. They organise the data they collect and are then able to spot patterns and relate them to the original problem to find a formula to work out the exterior angle of any polygon. At the end of the session the children report back to Mark, explaining how they arrived at the solution, an important part of the problem solving process.
In a second video two maths experts discuss some of the challenges of teaching problem solving. This includes how and at what stage to introduce problem solving strategies and the appropriate moment to intervene when children find tasks difficult. They also discuss how problem solving in the curriculum also helps to develop life skills.
Cards for Cubes: Problem Solving Activities for Young Children
Quality Assured Category: Mathematics Publisher: Claire Publications
This book provides a series of problem solving activities involving cubes. The tasks start simply and progress to more complicated activities so could be used for different ages within Key Stages One and Two depending on ability. The first task is a challenge to create a camel with 50 cubes that doesn't fall over. Different characters are introduced throughout the book and challenges set to create various animals, monsters and structures using different numbers of cubes. Problems are set to incorporate different areas of mathematical problem solving they are: using maths, number, algebra and measure.
Problem solving with EYFS, Key Stage One and Key Stage Two children
Quality Assured Category: Computing Publisher: Department for Education
These three resources, from the National Strategies, focus on solving problems.
Logic problems and puzzles identifies the strategies children may use and the learning approaches teachers can plan to teach problem solving. There are two lessons for each age group.
Finding all possibilities focuses on one particular strategy, finding all possibilities. Other resources that would enhance the problem solving process are listed, these include practical apparatus, the use of ICT and in particular Interactive Teaching Programs .
Finding rules and describing patterns focuses on problems that fall into the category 'patterns and relationships'. There are seven activities across the year groups. Each activity includes objectives, learning outcomes, resources, vocabulary and prior knowledge required. Each lesson is structured with a main teaching activity, drawing together and a plenary, including probing questions.
Primary mathematics classroom resources
Quality Assured Collection Category: Mathematics Publisher: Association of Teachers of Mathematics
This selection of 5 resources is a mixture of problem-solving tasks, open-ended tasks, games and puzzles designed to develop students' understanding and application of mathematics.
Thinking for Ourselves: These activities, from the Association of Teachers of Mathematics (ATM) publication 'Thinking for Ourselves’, provide a variety of contexts in which students are encouraged to think for themselves. Activity 1: In the bag – More or less requires students to record how many more or less cubes in total...
8 Days a Week: The resource consists of eight questions, one for each day of the week and one extra. The questions explore odd numbers, sequences, prime numbers, fractions, multiplication and division.
Number Picnic: The problems make ideal starter activities
Matchstick Problems: Contains two activities concentrating upon the process of counting and spotting patterns. Uses id eas about the properties of number and the use of knowledge and reasoning to work out the rules.
Colours: Use logic, thinking skills and organisational skills to decide which information is useful and which is irrelevant in order to find the solution.
GAIM Activities: Practical Problems
Quality Assured Category: Mathematics Publisher: Nelson Thornes
Designed for secondary learners, but could also be used to enrich the learning of upper primary children, looking for a challenge. These are open-ended tasks encourage children to apply and develop mathematical knowledge, skills and understanding and to integrate these in order to make decisions and draw conclusions.
Examples include:
*Every Second Counts - Using transport timetables, maps and knowledge of speeds to plan a route leading as far away from school as possible in one hour.
*Beach Guest House - Booking guests into appropriate rooms in a hotel.
*Cemetery Maths - Collecting relevant data from a visit to a local graveyard or a cemetery for testing a hypothesis.
*Design a Table - Involving diagrams, measurements, scale.
Go Further with Investigations
Quality Assured Category: Mathematics Publisher: Collins Educational
A collection of 40 investigations designed for use with the whole class or smaller groups. It is aimed at upper KS2 but some activities may be adapted for use with more able children in lower KS2. It covers different curriculum areas of mathematics.
Starting Investigations
The forty student investigations in this book are non-sequential and focus mainly on the mathematical topics of addition, subtraction, number, shape and colour patterns, and money.
The apparatus required for each investigation is given on the student sheets and generally include items such as dice, counters, number cards and rods. The sheets are written using as few words as possible in order to enable students to begin working with the minimum of reading.
NRICH Primary Activities
Explore the NRICH primary tasks which aim to enrich the mathematical experiences of all learners. Lots of whole class open ended investigations and problem solving tasks. These tasks really get children thinking!
Mathematical reasoning: activities for developing thinking skills
Quality Assured Category: Mathematics Publisher: SMILE
Problem Solving 2
Reasoning about numbers, with challenges and simplifications.
Quality Assured Category: Mathematics Publisher: Department for Education
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Free Team Building Activities
Watch our new videos to run these activities..
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Free Team Building Activities For School
Team Tic Tac Toe
Group Size: Any Size, space allowing Key Stages: KS2, KS3, KS4, KS5 Team Building Skills: Concentration, Observation, Strategy Communication Equipment: Stools Download Activity PDF https://youtu.be/g4pltPtYGHA Use the link below to subscribe to our U Tube Channel: Subscribe Now There are many ways to play Team Tic Tac Toe. This method
Take Action (Numbers & Actions)
Group Size: Any Size, space allowing Key Stages: KS1, KS2, KS3, KS4, KS5 Team Building Skills: Concentration, Following instructions, Speed Equipment: No Equipment Download Activity PDF https://youtu.be/88QLo21O8Xg Use the link below to subscribe to our U Tube Channel: Subscribe Now Take action is the perfect activity to energise your group.
Balloon Towers
Group Size: Multiple groups of 4 – 5 Key Stages: KS2, KS3, KS4, KS5 Team Building Skills: Planning, Strategy, Communication Equipment: Balloons, Tape, Scissors, Tape Measure Download Activity PDF https://youtu.be/fx9cjm0Me_g Use the link below to subscribe to our You Tube Channel: Subscribe Now Balloon Tower requires small
Dig Dig Dig
Group Size: 10 – 30 Key Stages: KS2, KS3, KS4, KS5 Team Building Skills: Communication, Observations, Information Sharing Equipment: Chairs Download Activity PDF https://youtu.be/wSra18Xrvtw Use the link below to subscribe to our You Tube Channel: Subscribe Now Dig Dig Dig is the perfect activity for groups that are getting to
Group Juggle
Group Size: Up to 30 but the larger the number thelonger the ball takes to get to each student. Key Stages: KS1, KS2, KS3, KS4, KS5 Team Building Skills: Communication, Concentration Equipment: A selection of balls or beanbags. Download Activity PDF Use the link below to subscribe to our You
Newspaper Fashion Show
Group Size: Multiple groups of 4 – 5 Key Stages: KS2, KS3, KS4, KS5 Team Building Skills: Imagination, Planning, Strategy, Communication Equipment: Newspaper, String, Tape Download Activity PDF Newspaper Fashion Show will have your teams in tears of laughter. The participants will need to be arranged in groups of 4
Catch The Ball
Group Size: Multiple groups of 4 – 5 Key Stages: KS1, KS2, KS3, KS4, KS5 Team Building Skills: Co-operation, Competition Equipment: Different balls (Table tennis, Golf, Perforated), Drinking straws, Tape Download Activity PDF Catch The Ball is a fantastic exercise to get your groups thinking. With so many ways to
Move The Balloons
Group Size: 30 students plus (Space dependant) Key Stages: KS1, KS2, KS3, KS4, KS5 Team Building Skills: Coordination, Speed Equipment: Balloons – 1 per participant Move The Balloons is a fun fast paced game that will guarantee to have your students out of breath! The participants will need to be
Nosey Parker
Nosey Parker Group Size: Up to 13 players Key Stages: KS1 KS2, KS3, KS4, KS5 Team Building Skills: Concentration, Listening, Communication Equipment: Pack of Playing cards Download Activity PDF This game is for up to 13 players as each player will need 4 cards from a pack of 52. If
Blindfolded Robots
Blindfolded Robots Group Size: 2 plus Key Stages: KS1, KS2, KS3, KS4, KS5 Team Building Skills: Communication, Trust Equipment: Bean Bags, Screwed up pieces of paper Download Activity PDF Blindfolded Robots is a great team building challenge to help gain trust between two or more participants. The instructor / teacher
Caterpillar Tracks
Caterpillar Tracks Group Size: 5 –unlimited space dependant Key Stages: KS1, KS2, KS3, KS4, KS5 Team Building Skills: Attention, Playing your role, Communication Equipment: No Equipment Download Activity PDF Caterpillar Tracks is a fast paced fun team building activity for all ages. There are two ways to play: The
The White Brick Road
The White Brick Road Group Size: 5 – 30 space dependant Key Stages: KS1, KS2, KS3, KS4, KS5 Team Building Skills: Planning, Memory, Cooperation, Trust Equipment: A4 pieces of paper Download Activity PDF The White Brick Road is a great team building game that can be played in a few
Just A Minute
Just A Minute Group Size: Any Key Stages: KS2, KS3, KS4, KS5 Team Building Skills: Decision making, Communication, Planning. Equipment: A means of timing one minute accurately. Download Activity PDF Just A Minute is a very simple game that can be played in a few different ways. The first is
Burst The Balloons
Burst The Balloons Group Size: Any, although large groups may get a little hectic. Key Stages: KS2, KS3, KS4, KS5 Team Building Skills: Organisation, Trust, Communication Equipment: Balloons (cheap balloons work best) and sellotape Download Activity PDF For Burst The Balloons each Person will need to sellotape a balloon to
Mirror Mirror
Mirror Mirror Group Size: Work in group of 2 Key Stages: KS1, KS2, KS3, KS4, KS5 Team Building Skills : Cooperation, Focus, Attention to detail Equipment: No equipment needed Download Activity PDF Mirror Mirror is a very simple but very effective cooperation game. The students will need to work in groups of two.
The Silent Countdown
The Silent Countdown Group Size: 10 – 30 Key Stages: KS1 KS2, KS3, KS4, KS5 Team Building Skills : Concentration, Listening, Communication Equipment: Blindfolds (possible without) Download Activity PDF The Silent Countdown is the perfect activity if you want your group to think carefully about what is going on within a team. The
The Sitting Circle
The Sitting Circle Group Size: 10 – 30 Key Stages: Upper KS2, KS3, KS4, KS5 Team Building Skills: Trust, Communication Equipment: No equipment needed Download Activity PDF The Sitting Circle will require participants to be willing to get close to their team mates. The instructor / teacher will need to organise the team
Bridge Build
Group Size: 5 – 30 Key Stages: KS2, KS3, KS4, KS5 Team Building Skills : Planning, Communication, Generating Ideas Equipment: Newspaper, Cellotape Download Activity PDF Bridge Build is a great team building activity for generating ideas and putting them into practice. The students will need to be put of groups of approx 4-5.
The Steeple Chase
The Steeple Chase Group Size: 10 – 100 (space dependant) Key Stages: KS1, KS2, KS3, KS4, KS5 Team Building Skills : Group participation, Following a lead, Public speaking – if commentating Equipment: No equipment needed Download Activity PDF The Steeple Chase is certainly not a quiet circle game. The first thing that you
The Elephant Race
The Elephant Race Group Size: 10 – 100 (space dependant) Key Stages: KS2, KS3, KS4, KS5 Team Building Skills : Taking Part, Personal contact Equipment: No equipment needed Download Activity PDF The Elephant Race is a game that will have the participating teams laughing all the way to the finish line. The instructor
Marshmallow And Spaghetti Towers
Group Size: Any size Key Stages: KS1, KS2, KS3, KS4, KS5 Team Building Skills : Planning, Communication Equipment: Marshmallows and spaghetti Download Activity PDF Firstly you will need to split your cohort into groups of approx 4-5. Each group will need to have exactly the same resources. The same number of marshmallows and
Fizz Buzz Group Size: 10 – 30 Key Stages: KS2, KS3, KS4, KS5 Team Building Skills : Concentration, Support Equipment: No equipment needed Download Activity PDF Fizz Buzz is a fast paced counting game…..with a twist. The group will need to sit in a circle. Decide where to start the game and that
How Are You Doing?, Just Fine Thanks!
Group Size: 10 – 16 Key Stages: KS3, KS4, KS5 Team Building Skills : Trust, Communication Equipment: Blindfolds Download Activity PDF To begin with the group will need to stand in a circle. The instructor / teacher will then to need to tell everyone to turn to the person on their right. They
Group Size: 10 – 30 Key Stages: KS2, KS3, KS4, KS5 Team Building Skills : Following instructions, Group participation Equipment: No equipment Download Activity PDF Grand Prix is an active and often noisy circle game. The idea is that the participants are pretending to be a racing
Sleeping Lions
Sleeping Lions Group Size: 5 – 30 Key Stages – KS1, KS2, KS3 Team Building Skills : Common Goal, Trust Equipment: No equipment Download Activity PDF If you have not discovered Sleeping Lions then you will be amazed. It is a brilliant activity to have up your sleeve. Some might say a life
Group Size: 10 – 30 Key Stages: KS1, KS2, KS3, KS4, KS5 Team Building Skills: Getting to know each other, communication Equipment: Paper and pens Download Activity PDF This is a great guessing game and a fantastic getting to know you game. Every participant will need to be given a small piece of
The River Group Size: Unlimited, although space dependant Key Stages: KS1, KS2, KS3, KS4, KS5 Team Building Skills: Following instructions, Individual thinking Equipment: Chalk, tape or rope Download Activity PDF This activity is great for big groups. You will need to mark two parallel lines on the floor. This may be done using
The Teddy Chase
Size: 10 – 30 Key stages: KS1, KS2, KS3, KS4, KS5 Team Building Skills: Co-operation, Team Spirit, public speaking if commentating Equipment: Two teddy bears, blindfolds if you are running a variation. Download Activity PDF This is a great team challenge for all ages. With the participants sat in a
Flap The Fish – Fast Paced Team Building Activity
Group Size – Unlimited – although space dependant Key stages – KS1, KS2, KS3, KS4, KS5 Team Building Skills : Common aim, competitive Equipment – Newspapers, magazine, thick plastic bag. Download Activity PDF Split your students into the same sized groups of between 3 – 6 This fun fast paced fishy
Wizards, Knights and Maidens.
Group Size – 20 Key stages – KS2, KS3, KS4 Team Building Skills : Working together, Following instructions Equipment – No Equipment Required Download Activity PDF Students work in groups of 2. If the facilitator shout ‘Wizards’ the pair must assume the following position as fast as possible – both
Blindfold Pass – Free Blindfolded Team Building Activity
Group Size: 10 – 100 Key stages: KS1, KS2, KS3, KS4, KS5 Team Building Skills : Co-operation, Trust Equipment: Bell or other noisy item Download Activity PDF For this blindfolded team building activity the group stand in a large circle. One member of the group stands in the middle of the circle. They need to wear
Battle of the Pen – Free Indoor Team Building Game
Group Size: 6+ Key stages: KS2, KS3 , KS4, KS5 Team Building Skills: Communication, Equipment: Pen, Coin and table and chairs Download Activity PDF This is an indoor team building game played around a table. Ideally even sized teams sit in lines facing each other across a table. Sitting in chairs is
Fruit Salad – Free Team Building Game
For this team building activity everyone is required to stand in a circle. The bigger the group the better – Tricky at the time of print! Go around the circle and give all team members a name – Kiwi, lime, pineapple, banana. These names can be whatever you fancy, although
The Sky Is The Limit aka Newspaper Towers – Free Team Building Exercise
Group Size: Multiple Groups of 4 – 6 Key Stage: KS1, KS2, KS3, KS4, KS5 Team Building Skills: Creativity; Verbal Communication; Decision Making Equipment: Newspapers; Cellotape Download Activity PDF The Sky is the Limit – AKA: Newspapers Towers, This activity is a great team building exercise where the equipment of old newspapers and
Free Team Problem Solving Activity – Back To Back aka Sketch It
Back to Back – Sketch it. Students will work in pairs and sit back to back. They will take it in turns to be the describer and the sketcher. The describer will describe a shape without saying the name whilst the sketcher will try to draw the described shape as
Free Team Building Activity – Alphabet Hunt
A great fun yet inexpensive team building activity. All that is required is some scissors a newspaper a piece of A4 paper and a glue stick or cellotape per team. We suggest that this activity is run in teams of 2-6. However larger teams will work. The aim of the
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Problem solving / team building activities for schools ks1, ks2, ks3, ks4, ks5.
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Ratio and Proportion KS2
This collection is one of our Primary Curriculum collections - tasks that are grouped by topic.
Pumpkin Pie Problem
Peter wanted to make two pies for a party. His mother had a recipe for him to use. However, she always made 80 pies at a time. Did Peter have enough ingredients to make two pumpkin pies?
Rectangle Tangle
The large rectangle is divided into a series of smaller quadrilaterals and triangles. Can you untangle what fractional part is represented by each of the shapes?
In the Money
One quarter of these coins are heads but when I turn over two coins, one third are heads. How many coins are there?
Orange Drink
A 750 ml bottle of concentrated orange squash is enough to make fifteen 250 ml glasses of diluted orange drink. How much water is needed to make 10 litres of this drink?
Fraction Fascination
This problem challenges you to work out what fraction of the whole area of these pictures is taken up by various shapes.
After training hard, these two children have improved their results. Can you work out the length or height of their first jumps?
Mastery-Aligned Maths Tutoring
“The best thing has been the increase in confidence and tutors being there to deal with any misunderstandings straight away."
FREE daily maths challenges
A new KS2 maths challenge every day. Perfect as lesson starters - no prep required!
KS2 Maths Investigations Based On Real Life In Primary School
Sophie Bessemer
It’s been a long week and it is time to hand out your latest ‘exciting’ KS2 maths investigations, carefully crafted problem solving investigations focused specifically on the work you’ve been doing this week.
But then you hear the the immortal words from your Year 6: ” What Does This Have To Do With The Real World?”
Any good teacher knows, of course, exactly how relevant maths is in the real world and how, without maths, modern society as we know it would never have existed.
The problem is, not all 11 year olds know it too – and you’re going to have a hard time convincing some of them.
In defence of 11 year olds, the curriculum – maths in particular – can sometimes feel all too distant from what’s ‘real’.
So the question then becomes, how do we show young learners how Maths intersects and dominates our day to day life?
How do we give our KS2 pupils maths investigations that inspire them, change their perceptions and help them to move beyond a fixed mindset to see maths problem solving as entirely relevant to what may come next in life?
If you’re just interested in maths investigations for Year 5 and Year 6 we’ve created jump to the end of the blog where they’re all listed by term.
KS2 Maths Investigations: Problem solving in context
Benefits of maths investigations at ks2, 5 top tips for creating your own ks2 maths investigations, year 5 and year 6 maths investigations.
We believe that one of the answers is putting your maths problem solving activities into a context that your pupils can relate to.
We call this Topical Maths, and we’ve used this idea as the source for several of our most popular Year 5 and Year 6 maths problem solving resources, all offering the kind of KS2 maths investigations we know your pupils will love!
KS2 Topical Maths Problems
25 real world maths investigations to practise reasoning and problem solving based on primary school calendar events
There are lots of benefits of course, but the most important as far as we’re concerned are these:
- Pupils are required to talk and reason about their maths
- The maths problem solving investigations cement higher order reasoning skills and problem solving
- Starting early with Year 5 maths investigations you can support familiarity with the sorts of questions that come up in Year 6 SATs.
To encourage you to give these KS2 maths investigations a go, we’ll first look at the benefits and principles of introducing them for your reasoning and problem solving at Year 5 and Year 6, we’ll then give you some ideas for how you can create these problem solving activities for the rest of KS2 yourself.
We guarantee you’ll see your pupils’ reasoning and problems solving skills improve!
1. KS2 Maths Investigations Involve Pupils Talking and Reasoning
Getting pupils to verbalise their numerical reasoning has a knock-on effect on pupils’ overall reasoning skills, which is why the core element of our KS2 maths intervention is mathematical reasoning; asking pupils to explain not just what they’re doing, but why they’re doing it.
As a teacher of a large class, it can be difficult to provide the teacher time necessary for each pupil to verbalise to you their reasoning.
The inherently collaborative nature of year 5 and year 6 maths investigations gives pupils the opportunities to to reason out loud and work on their maths problem solving skills.
2. KS2 Maths Investigations Cement Higher Order Reasoning Skills
Our experience teaching thousands of primary school pupils maths every week has shown us that at KS2, even by Year 5 or Year 6, pupils often have good procedural understanding, but struggle with higher order problem solving questions.
The problem solving element to these topical maths investigations naturally improves reasoning skills in Year 5 and Year 6 pupils, as they are more likely on reaching an answer to have to think about not just how but why that answer is correct.
By setting topical maths investigations at KS2 as group-work or a whole class activity, you can ensure that all pupils get to experience this deep level of reasoning.
Many of our topical maths investigations are open ended, but if you’re teaching a fully mixed ability class, we’ve also created some low threshold high ceiling open ended maths investigations specifically for mixed ability classes.
3. KS2 Maths Investigations Give Early Exposure To SATs Style, Reasoning Questions
Most, if not all, schools will provide their pupils with exposure to reasoning via SATs-style questions, but this often comes hand in hand with exams and assessment.
Yet, it is equally important to get pupils reasoning and problem solving in a low stakes classroom setting or as a group.
Creating a learning environment where the types of problem solving questions found in SATs just become part of your lessons will help pupils feel comfortable with exam terminology, and ensures they are more at ease with being asked the same kind of question (say, multiplying and dividing fractions) in lots of different ways.
These maths problem solving investigations and downloadable resources enable you to include these type of SATs style questions in a way which is fun and confidence boosting.
More problem solving and reasoning articles
- Ultimate Guide to Maths Problem Solving Techniques
- Maths Investigations: How To Develop Mathematical Reasoning
- 35 Year 6 Maths Reasoning Questions .
You don’t need to create your own problem solving investigations – the links at the end of this article should provide you with everything you need. However if you do want to have a go these were our principles and, judging by the number of visits. to the date related articles and downloads of these resources we get every year, they’re still very popular.
1. Date-based themes for maths problem solving activities
Nothing solidifies maths in the real world quite like the real world. Nearly, if not everyday of the year holds some significance to someone.
February? Pancake day, Valentines Day, and Fairtrade Fortnight.
March? Red Nose Day, World Book Day, and Holi.
Why not spice your lesson up and throw in some Pancake Day Maths for ratios, or Bonfire Night Maths for measurements. Capitalise on special celebrations throughout the world to excite and enthuse young learners.
For example these Christmas activities always prove popular with KS1 and KS2 or at a different time of year you could try these summer holiday maths investigations or any of these maths activities .
2. Trends and pop-culture KS2 maths investigations
Peers and pop culture hold huge sway over most pupils, and the reason for this is that as growing persons we want to fit in and find friends.
Nothing achieves this more effectively than mutual interest. As a teacher, utilise it – whether this is measuring the speed of explosions in the latest Transformer film, or totalling the high notes in Disney’s Moana – you’ll have pupils hooked in no time.
For the exceptionally savvy teacher, you might want to capitalise on the latest fads and trends within your school. How about measuring amounts via the infamous bottle trick, or examining angles through the lens of the dab?
3. Simple stuff engages pupils with maths problem solving and reasoning
Sometimes when teachers link maths back to real world issues, politics, and the universe at large, it can still feel a little dissonant for the younger pupils.
Don’t be afraid to stick with the simple stuff and the smaller aspects of the world.
Everybody needs to know how much change they’ll have left over after a bus ride home, everyone wants to know exactly how many chocolate bars they can gorge themselves on with two pounds, and everyone wants to know how many times they can go on the log-flume with five tickets.
Keeping it simple can be one of the most effective ways to engage pupils by showing them the mathematics they will employ in every-day life.
4. Cool factor for primary teachers – even in maths
Generally – note this is a generalisation – as a secondary teacher, one can spend eternity being uncool. Luckily primary school teachers get an easier rap, and KS2 pupils are willing to be ‘wowed’. All students can be ‘wowed’ under the right circumstances, but with younger, more malleable minds it can be somewhat easier.
Astronauts, magicians, superheroes, cute animals, cartoons, all carry the power of enthusiasm. They can be your secret weapon for making percentages fun – you’re not halving a number, you’re a magician halving a 167cm person in a special box, etc.
5. Make your maths investigations REALLY relevant
Relevance can be highly underrated when it comes to linking seemingly abstract topics to the real world.
One trick is to instead of distributing your problem solving activity sheets with strangers’ names and unrelatable allegories in the questions, why not make those names and allegories about your class.
Instead of a stranger gathering four apples and eating three, make your pupil.
Instead of apples, why not their favourite snack?
Letting students pick names in questions gives them greater agency in their learning and can be highly engaging.
Better still, putting their names/hobbies/likes/dislikes will not only show them that you know them, and that you care, but it will establish clear links between the work they are doing and the world proper.
Here’s our complete list of topical maths investigations for year 5 and year 6.
Autumn Term maths investigations year 6 and year 5
- Autumn maths activities
- Halloween maths activities
- Bonfire Night maths activities
- Christmas maths activities
Spring Term maths investigations year 6 and year 5
- Heart Month Months activities
- Shrove Tuesday Maths activities
- Pancake Day Maths activities
- World Book Day Maths activities
- International Women’s Day Maths activities
- British Science Week Maths activities
- Holi Maths activities
- Easter/Lent Maths activities
Summer term maths investigations year 6 and year 5
- Share-a-Story Month activities
- FA Cup Maths activities
- Walk to School Week activities
- Ramadan Maths activities
- Child Safety Week activities
And if that’s not enough we’ve even got maths activities for Year 5 and Year 6 for events you’re likely to celebrate in primary school but don’t come round every year…
- Red Nose Day Maths activities
- World Cup Maths activities
- Election Maths
- Jubilee Maths activities
We update these blog posts every year so keep an eye on your calendar, and let us know how you get on @thirdspacetweet.
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FREE Guide to Maths Mastery
All you need to know to successfully implement a mastery approach to mathematics in your primary school, at whatever stage of your journey.
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Free problem solving maths games for KS2 children. Topmarks Search; Whiteboard Resources; Learning Games; Topmarks Apps; Topmarks Blog; Share this page: 3-5 Years; 5-7 Years; ... These resources provide fun, free problem solving teaching ideas and activities for primary aged children. They will help children to reason mathematically, a vital ...
Problem Solving. This feature is somewhat larger than our usual features, but that is because it is packed with resources to help you develop a problem-solving approach to the teaching and learning of mathematics. Read Lynne's article which discusses the place of problem solving in the new curriculum and sets the scene.
Problem-solving Schools; About NRICH expand_more. About us; Impact stories; ... We've put together some of our favourite games and interactivities. ... games will help to test your understanding of different topics. Age 7 to 11. Games - Upper Primary. Playing these Free KS1/KS2 Maths games will help to test your understanding of different ...
Maths - Key Stage 2 (7-11 year olds) ... Problem Solving. Countdown Game. Test your mental maths agility and skills on this Countdown game. There are different levels of difficulty. Thinking of a Number. Children need to guess a number below 100 from clues on the clouds. Good for developing mathematical vocabulary.
KS2 Maths Problem solving learning resources for adults, children, parents and teachers. ... Play Guardians maths game! Times tables games and songs. All Bitesize Primary games.
Age 7 to 11. Challenge Level. Place four pebbles on the sand in the form of a square. Keep adding as few pebbles as necessary to double the area. How many extra pebbles are added each time?
Problem-solving key stage 2 primary resources for children. We have tons of maths problem-solving activities for kids, and resources available to help your key stage 2 students practice their problem-solving skills. There are lots of themed resources too. This includes things like sports-themed investigate puzzles, or code cracking problems.
Problem solving games at KS2 are a great way for children to deepen their mathematical understanding. These KS2 maths games require children to think strategically and to approach problems in different ways. Problem solving game 1: the 24 game. This maths game is a great problem solving and 'low floor, high ceiling game', as players search ...
Tackle challenging questions using a variety of mathematical skills with our range of problem-solving maths resources, designed for KS2 students. Problem-solving in KS2 is a key skill that will form the foundation of future learning. That's why we've designed some brilliant PowerPoints, worksheets, games, and lots of maths mastery resources to ...
If your Key Stage 2 pupils are still struggling with reasoning and problem solving in Maths, here are some problem solving strategies to try with your classes; all aligned to Ofsted's suggested primary school teaching strategies. Reasoning and problem solving are widely understood to be one of the most important activities in school mathematics.
Connect 4 Factors. Playing solo: The player must fill the grid with the counters from both boxes. They must avoid lining up four numbers with a common factor (other than one). Playing duo: Each player has a box of counters to choose from. Take it in turns to drop a counter into the game board.
Extension ideas for problem solving activities in KS2. Extending both ideas, we could make a grid where the rows contained questions with a different surface structure and the columns contained questions with the same deep structure. This grid could be cut into individual boxes with pupils having to sort each box accordingly, to reconstruct the ...
Scroll down to see our complete collection of KS2 problems that require children to work systematically, or explore the two sub-collections focusing on important aspects of systematic working. This collection is one of our Primary Curriculum collections - tasks that are grouped by topic. Age 7 to 11. Challenge Level.
This book provides a series of problem solving activities involving cubes. The tasks start simply and progress to more complicated activities so could be used for different ages within Key Stages One and Two depending on ability. ... It is aimed at upper KS2 but some activities may be adapted for use with more able children in lower KS2. It ...
Practice is crucial to maths success, and our questions are designed to support your daily routines. These problems can be used across Y1 and Y2 throughout the year. Download. Our maths problems of the day provide four problems across KS1, KS2 and Lower KS3 for pupils to solve. View our Maths resources from White Rose Maths.
Other valuable maths practice and ideas particularly around reasoning and problem solving at secondary can be found in our KS3 and KS4 maths blog articles. Try these fun maths problems for KS2 and KS3, SSDD problems, KS3 maths games and 30 problem solving maths questions.
For this problem solving activity for older kids or teens, you will need four 2×6 boards. Divide your group into two teams with an equal number of children on each team. Place two of the four boards end to end on the ground or floor. Set the other two parallel to the first two about two or three feet apart.
Newspaper Fashion Show. Group Size: Multiple groups of 4 - 5 Key Stages: KS2, KS3, KS4, KS5 Team Building Skills: Imagination, Planning, Strategy, Communication Equipment: Newspaper, String, Tape Download Activity PDF Newspaper Fashion Show will have your teams in tears of laughter. The participants will need to be arranged in groups of 4.
KS1 / KS2 Introduction 33 schools from the Royal Society Schools Network were chosen to take part in a problem-solving club pilot scheme, with the aim to set up a new mathematics or computing focused problem-solving club for their students. Each club developed its own programme of activities, and teachers were encouraged to explore opportunities
Orange Drink. Age 7 to 11. Challenge Level. A 750 ml bottle of concentrated orange squash is enough to make fifteen 250 ml glasses of diluted orange drink.
3. KS2 Maths Investigations Give Early Exposure To SATs Style, Reasoning Questions. Most, if not all, schools will provide their pupils with exposure to reasoning via SATs-style questions, but this often comes hand in hand with exams and assessment. Yet, it is equally important to get pupils reasoning and problem solving in a low stakes ...
These are some ideas for outdoor problem solving activities for KS2 to help children with learning maths outdoors. One of the most critical aspects of teaching and learning maths is to be able to solve problems. While teaching maths in school, I found that it can become easy to get overly focused on teaching the rules and procedures for doing ...