
Stained Glass Window
- Age groups
- 5-7
- 8-11
The big circular windows that take pride of place in many churches or cathedrals - often referred to as 'rose windows' - are usually divided into symmetrical sections, with intricate designs made up of shapes. Today, we'll show you how to create your own mini rose window, with a symmetrical design.

Shut the Box
- Age groups
- 5-7
- 8-11
- 12-15
- 16+
Shut the Box is a fun dice game for two or more players, though can also be played by one player as a solitaire game. It's a great game for encouraging number recognition and practicing addition and number bonds.

Seaside Path Finding Challenge
- Age groups
- 5-7
- 8-11
Can you find your way along the seashore by following the repeating pattern from START to END? Colour each square in the repeating pattern to mark out the correct path.

How to Play 'Trash'
- Age groups
- 5-7
- 8-11
- 12-15
The card game 'Trash' (also known as 'Garbage') is great for number recognition and for practicing number sequences. All you need is a standard deck of 52 playing cards.

DIY Bead & String Puzzle
- Age groups
- 8-11
- 12-15
- 16+
Get hands on with your very own DIY bead & string puzzle. First you'll need to make it, then you'll need to solve it!

Summer Holiday Logic Puzzle
- Age groups
- 8-11
- 12-15
- 16+
Four friends went to the beach together. Can you work out what activity each of them did at the beach, and what flavour of ice cream they ate? There are two levels of difficulty to choose from. In Level 2, you'll also need to work out how they got to the beach.

DIY Tessellation Template
- Age groups
- 5-7
- 8-11
- 12-15
Tessellations are arrangements of shapes closely fitted together, in a repeated pattern without gaps or overlapping. how to make your own tessellation template, so that your repeating pattern fits together.

How to Play Sevens
- Age groups
- 8-11
- 12-15
- 16+
Sevens is a fun dice game for two or more players, that you can play anywhere, any time. It encourages number and quantity recognition, and basic addition skills.

Dots & Boxes
- Age groups
- 8-11
- 12-15
Whether you’re travelling and need something to keep the kids busy on the road, or looking for a boredom buster back at home, you can’t go wrong with this quick and easy pen and paper game.

Lego Pentomino Puzzle
- Age groups
- 8-11
- 12-15
- 16+
A pentomino puzzle is a tiling puzzle with lots of different solutions, that helps build problem solving skills and strategic thinking. Dig out your Lego to create your own puzzle!

Geometric Cityscape
- Age groups
- 0-4
- 5-7
- 8-11
Create your own geometric cityscape, inspired by the artworks of Paul Klee.

How to Play Dara
- Age groups
- 5-7
- 8-11
- 12-15
- 16+
Learn how to play Dara - a row building game from Northwest Africa, that encourages number sense, logical thinking and spacial perception.

Maths Games & Activities for the Beach
- Age groups
- 0-4
- 5-7
- 8-11
- 12-15
- 16+
Oh we do like to be beside the seaside... Keep up your maths over the summer holidays, with our fun games and activities to do at the beach.

Maths Outdoors: 30 Days Wild
- Age groups
- 0-4
- 5-7
- 8-11
- 12-15
We love taking our maths outdoors, so we've come up with 30 fun ideas to do together as a family, that will get you active in nature and incorporate some maths along the way. Complete with downloadable calendar of ideas, and a set of 30 activity 'cards'.

Spring & Easter Puzzles
- Age groups
- 0-4
- 5-7
- 8-11
- 12-15
We've put together a selection of Spring and Easter puzzles covering a range of different maths skills including counting, pattern recognition, logical thinking, code breaking, and using tessellation or symmetry to create designs.

Pi Day Necklace or Bracelet
- Age groups
- 5-7
- 8-11
- 12-15
To celebrate Pi Day, we're showing you two different ways to make a necklace or bracelet that will help you memorise the digits of pi. Wear yours on Pi Day, or make one to share with a maths loving friend.

Shape Mice
- Age groups
- 0-4
- 5-7
- 8-11
Celebrate Burns Night with our fun shape activity, in honour of one of Robert Burns' most well known poems, 'To a Mouse'. Cut out shapes of different sizes from coloured paper or card, and arrange them to create mice. What other shapes can you use? How about a pentagon or a hexagon mouse?

Scavenger Shape Hunt
- Age groups
- 0-4
- 5-7
- 8-11
A scavenger hunt is a great way to get out and about AND have some fun with maths. Go on a Shape Hunt, looking for how many different shapes you can find in your neighbourhood. Why not document what you find and share your photographs with us online!

Maths Makes Art
- Age groups
- 0-4
- 5-7
- 8-11
- 12-15
- 16+
In a series of four videos, children demonstrate how mathematical principles including symmetry, tessellation and 3D shapes, can be the basis for a huge range of art and craft projects. Cubic chickens, cat portraits, stained glass windows, stencils, a birthday card for your granny…
The videos are made with children in mind, but are suitable for all ages - try for yourself!
Created by Anne McNaught and Johanna Hall

How to Play Tenzi
- Age groups
- 5-7
- 8-11
Tenzi is a dice game for two or more players, which is great for number recognition. You will need a set of ten dice per player, with a different colour of dice each. The basic aim of the game is to be the first player to get all of your dice to show the same number.

Codebreak
- Age groups
- 8-11
- 12-15
- 16+
Test your problem-solving skills and try to crack our secret messages using clues
Code Break is an interactive web app consisting of three ciphers: Pigpen, Caesar and simple substitution (solved by frequency analysis). Earn stars for each challenge, and learn about code-breaking through the ages by playing our interactive ‘Could you be a code breaker?’
Created by the Open University

Pyramid Addition
- Age groups
- 5-7
- 8-11
- 12-15
Pyramid is a card game for two or more players, to practice addition. For older children, the same game play can also be used for multiplication. To play either version, you will need a standard set of cards with the face cards (Jack, Queen, King) removed.

Number Fun with Lego
- Age groups
- 0-4
- 5-7
Here's a fun wee activity for younger learners, to playfully encourage number recognition: dig out your Lego and get creating! Building with Lego is an opportunity to incorporate a little maths in to your children's play time. How many bricks do they need of each colour? What size of bricks - 2x2 blocks, or 2x4? While they're having fun, they're already learning maths without even realising it.

Intergalactic Adventure
- Age groups
- 8-11
- 12-15
Are you ready for a mathematical space adventure? Prepare for a journey to the Planet Turasmara. Download and complete your passport application ready for boarding, then solve the six space maths challenges!
Created by the Scottish Mathematical Council

Pig Dice Game
- Age groups
- 5-7
- 8-11
- 12-15
- 16+
Pig is a dice game for two or more players. All you need to play is one six sided die, some paper and a pen or pencil to keep score. Pig is what's known as a jeopardy game, where you have to decide whether to jeopardise previous points gained by rolling again to gain even more points. As well as practicing basic maths skills counting up your scores, Pig teaches you to think strategically - if you are too greedy and take too many risks, you might lose your points!

Cryptography Challenge
- Age groups
- 8-11
- 12-15
- 16+
Five exhibits at National Museum of Scotland have been written in code! Can you use your code breaking skills to find out what they are?
Created by Open University Faculty of STEM

Numerical Doodles
- Age groups
- 5-7
- 8-11
- 12-15
Numerical doodles are a fun way for children to gain more confidence in recognising and naming numbers. Older learners can also still have fun getting creative. Try your hand at recreating our doodles, or create your own - what can you turn each number in to?

Maths War Card Game
- Age groups
- 5-7
- 8-11
- 12-15
Maths War is a great little game to practice different kinds of maths skills, including number values, place value, addition and multiplication. All you need is one of two packs of regular playing cards, with the face cards (Jack, Queen, King) removed.
Geometric Dot Grid Drawings
- Age groups
- 5-7
- 8-11
- 12-15
Pencils at the ready! Using dot grid paper to create pictures, connect adjacent dots vertically, horizontally or diagonally to create geometric drawings.
If you don't have any dot grid paper, you can download and print off some for free via the link below. Or you can use graph paper and connect the corners of the squares instead.

Numberella Interactive Adventure
- Age groups
- 5-7
- 8-11
- 12-15
Join Numberella, Ronnie Resist, Miss A Go and The Thief in an exciting interactive adventure that will take you deep into the jungle of the lost world of Meravilium. Use your maths skills to help the adventurers outwit the mysterious talking creatures who guard the great pyramid… and help them discover the secrets that lie inside!
There are two difficulty levels to choose from, one for the 7-10 age group and one for the 11-14 age group. Everyone who completes the adventure wins a certificate!

Code a Dancer with Scratch
- Age groups
- 8-11
- 12-15
- 16+
Try your hand at coding and bring a character to life with code in Scratch! Follow along with Claire Quigley from Glasgow Life to try the example below of a “Counting Sheep” to see how it’s done, or watch our video at scienceceilidh.com/codedance and then share your animation!
Content created by Science Ceilidh

Parent Club Maths Tips
- Age groups
- 0-4
- 5-7
- 8-11
- 12-15
Some tips from the Scottish Government's Parent Club on how to make maths homework fun, plus some suggestions for maths games to play together at home.

My Maths Week Scotland Booklet
- Age groups
- 0-4
- 5-7
- 8-11
- 12-15
- 16+
There's lots to do for families during Maths Week Scotland, from the events, activities and challenges you can find on our website, to getting busy with maths inspired games, arts, books and baking at home.
We've created a wee booklet for you, which you can print out and record all your Maths Week Scotland activities, plus a section to write about yourself and a couple of brain teasers to get you in the mood for maths.
Just print, fold, and you're good to go!

7 Ways to Celebrate Pi Day
- Age groups
- 5-7
- 8-11
- 12-15
- 16+
Pi Day (14th March) is an annual celebration of the mathematical constant π (pi). Here are seven fun ways to celebrate pi, on Pi Day or all year round.

I-Spy Halloween
- Age groups
- 0-4
- 5-7
Are you ready for some spooky counting fun? We've created a seasonal activity sheet for you, to keep the kids busy in the run up to Halloween. How many of each of the symbols can you find?

Christmas Code Cracker
- Age groups
- 0-4
- 5-7
- 8-11
- 12-15
- 16+
Check out our Countdown to the Christmas Holidays, for a seasonal mix of puzzles, games, arts and crafts, and more!

Codebreaker Challenge
- Age groups
- 8-11
- 12-15
- 16+
Use your code cracking skills to work out the punchlines to five Christmas cracker jokes that have been encrypted as secret messages.
You can also have a go at encrypting your own secret messages, using our Cryptography resource developed by the Open University, with five different ciphers to choose from.

Festive Lego Builds
- Age groups
- 0-4
- 5-7
Building with Lego is a great opportunity to incorporate a little maths in to your children's play time. How many bricks do they need of each colour? What size of bricks - 2x2 blocks, or 2x4? While they're having fun, they're already learning maths without even realising it.

Baking Sugar Cookies
- Age groups
- 0-4
- 5-7
- 8-11
- 12-15
- 16+
There are a multitude of maths skills involved in baking - from weighing, measuring and counting, to fractions, conversions, telling the time and more! Put your maths skills to the test as you bake our delicious sugar cookies! (gluten free, nut free, vegetarian)

Gingerbread Maths
- Age groups
- 0-4
In this simple counting activity with a seasonal twist, early learners can match the buttons to the gingerbread shapes to count from 1 to 5. The download also includes a bigger version of the template for younger children, so that bigger buttons or equivalent can be used.
>> Download Gingerbread Template
Note: Small parts can pose a choking hazard. Please supervise young children when doing this activity.

Collaborative Drawings
- Age groups
- 5-7
- 8-11
- 12-15
- 16+
In this collaborative drawing challenge, one person describes whilst the other draws. It’s not as easy as it sounds! You can use only shapes and directional words in your description. Why not have several people drawing at once and compare your pictures at the end – did you all draw the same thing?
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