Teach-Primary-Issue-19.1

S T EM S P E C I A L How it works: • In pairs or small groups, children work together to complete the scavenger hunt. • Gather children afterwards to share and compare their findings and to discuss the maths involved. KS1: Depending on the confidence level of pupils, tasks could revolve around counting (“Collect 3 leaves”), measuring (“Find a pencil that is longer than 12 cm”) or shape (“Find a cylinder”). KS2: Tasks can become more complex, such as finding an object longer than 11.2 cm but shorter than 12.5 cm, or involve investigation (“Measure the length of one of the benches”, “Count how many chairs the classroom has and multiply the answer by 2”). Explode a number (KS1 and KS2) Resources: Mathematical manipulatives and large pieces of paper How it works: • In pairs or small groups, give children a number. • Using manipulatives or through writing and drawing, ask children to create as many different representations of a number as they can. They may write the number in words, use place value counters or a Gattegno chart, or write the number in expanded form. KS2 children may find the factors of the number, write it in Roman numerals or write calculations that give the target number as an answer. • Whoever can create the most representations of a number, wins. Number riddles (KS2) Resources: 100-square grids How it works: • Children choose a number and think of clues to give to other children so they can work out the number. • Each clue should narrow down the possibilities, but it shouldn’t reveal the answer too soon. E.g. “My ones digit is even, but my tens digit is odd. I am divisible by 3. I am 5 more than a square number. My digits have a sum of 9.” • Cross out the numbers that can be eliminated as you go until only one number is left. Dice games (KS2) Resources: Dice (10-sided dice would work best for this, but it would still work with 6-sided dice) How it works: • On the whiteboard, draw out a template (e.g. 6 boxes next to each other to create a 6-digit number). Children copy this down onto a whiteboard or on paper. • Set the challenge. This may be trying to make the smallest number, the greatest number, the number closest to 500,000 – the possibilities are endless! • Children should then take it in turns to roll the dice and select which of their boxes to put the digit in. They will have to choose carefully to try to achieve the target number. • This could be extended by formatting the challenge as a calculation, such as __ __ __ __ __ + __ __ __ __ and asking the children to come up with an addition question with an answer as close to 60,000 as possible. Jeopardy (KS1 and KS2) Resources: Questions separated into categories (addition, subtraction, etc.) and arranged in point values How it works: • Divide the class into teams. • The first team chooses a category and a points value. Ask a question that fits into the chosen category (e.g. if it’s addition, you could ask “What’s 5 + 8?”. If they answer the question correctly, they win the number of points they chose for the points value. • At the end, total up the scores. The team with the most points wins. • To make the game as effective as possible, choose questions that target areas that you know your class need to practise or areas that they have recently covered in lessons. There are some examples in the downloadable resources. TP “Celebrating Number Day reminds pupils that maths is a fun and enjoyable subject to learn” DOWNLOAD RESOURCES AT Download your FREE games templates at tinyurl.com/ tp-NumberDay www.teachwire.net | 45 Sarah Farrell is a KS2 teacher in Bristol who makes and shares resources online. tinyurl.com/tp-NumberDay2025 @SarahFarrellKS2