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Topic “Maths Shape Space and Measures”
Activities to understand and use the concepts of full and empty
| Activity/strategy name and materials required | How to do the activity | Key principles for doing the activity and comments |
|---|---|---|
| Introducing full/empty - full/empty symbols - click here to print - play activity - water/sand/soil/small toys - different containers | 1. Print and cut out the symbols set you wish to use - you could work on full empty straight away or simply if by using full/not full. 2. With your chosen play equipment, model to your child what full and empty look like with a range of different containers and items to fill them. 3. Comment on your child playing, encourage them to make full containers then empty them. | If your child is finding it challenging to grasp the difference between full and empty. Choose one concept first, e.g. full, and use 'not full' as the alternative. Once you are confident that your child understands this concept you can start to teach the concept of empty. |
| Water play - Aprons for you and child - Symbol for 'full' and 'empty' - click here to print - Four identical see-through containers - Two large jugs/bottles - Paper towels - Plastic sheet to work over
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| Watering the garden |
Activities to develop understanding of the concepts fast and slow.
| Activity/strategy name and materials required | How to do the activity | Key principles for doing the activity and comments |
|---|---|---|
| Fast slow car game | 1. Print and cut out the fast/slow symbols. 2. Explain to your child that they are going to pretend to be a car and move around the room. You will tell them to go slow or fast depending on which symbol you show. 3. Have a practice by showing the symbol and saying the word and encouraging your child to move slowly or fast around the room. 4. Swap over and let your child tell you whether to go fast or slow. | If your child is finding it challenging to grasp the difference between slow and fast. Choose one concept first, e.g. slow, and use 'not slow' as the alternative. Once you are confident that your child understands this concept you can start to teach the concept of fast. |
| Traffic Spot | If your child is finding it challenging to grasp the difference between slow and fast. Choose one concept first, e.g. slow, and use 'not slow' as the alternative. Once you are confident that your child understands this concept you can start to teach the concept of fast. |
Activities to help develop understanding and use of the words 'left' and 'right' on own body
| Activity/strategy name and materials required | How to do the activity | Key principles for doing the activity and comments |
|---|---|---|
| Prompt poster Sheet of paper (A4 size or larger) Pens/ pencils/ crayons etc. | 1. Explain that it can be difficult to tell which is your left hand and which is your right, but that there are some things we can do to help us. 2. Encourage the child to put out their hands palms downwards, with the fingers together and the thumbs extended at right angles. 3. Encourage the child to look for a capital "L" formed by the index finger and thumb. This will be on the left hand. Explain that the one on the right is backwards. 4. Help the child to draw round each hand with their thumb extended, with both hands on the same piece of paper. Help the child to write the words "left" and "right" on the correct hand shape. 5. Help the child to write a large capital L shape on the left hand following the index finger and thumb. Use a contrasting colour to do this. 6. Ask the child to draw a pen or pencil beside the hand they write with. If the child is right handed, you can remind them that "your right hand is the hand you write with; your left hand is the one that is left". This does not work for left-handed children. 7. If possible, ask the child to identify something visual to help tell their left or right hand and draw it on their poster. This could be their watch or a freckle, for example. | When it's finished, put the poster in a visible place to act as a prompt for the child. You may need several copies if the child works in different locations. Remind the child to use their strategy to tell which is left and which is right when they get stuck. |
| Following instructions Object with a distinctive look and feel (I use a painted wooden egg) Blindfold (optional) | You can give tactile feed back if the child is struggling to tell right and left. Touch them gently, but firmly on the right arm and say, "this is right". Touch them gently, but firmly on the left arm and say, "this is left". Understanding "left" and "right" on someone else is more difficult. To make it easier, make sure the child giving the instructions is following the child to whom they are giving instructions so that "left" and "right" for both children is the same. If the child giving instructions stays still then this is a much harder task - this equates to working at Level 3 (8 to 9 year old typical development). |
pupils use words left and right on objects in front of them
| Activity/strategy name and materials required | How to do the activity | Key principles for doing the activity and comments |
|---|---|---|
| Put it there One large object such as a toy bus, house etc. Several smaller objects e.g. toy animals Prompt cards saying "left" and "right" | 1. Put the large object in the centre of the table in front of the child. 2. Ask the child to identify the left side and the right side. Help if necessary. 3. Put the "left" and "right" prompt cards to the left and right of the object. 4. Give the child instructions such as "put the lion to the right of the bus" 5. Swap roles so that the child has a chance to give the instructions. 6. When the child is fairly proficient at carrying out the activity with the prompt cards, try the activity with no prompts. | The child should be able to understand and refer to left and right when talking about their own body first (see "understand and use words left and right on own body"). You should sit next to the child so their left/right is the same as your left/right. Note: if you are sitting opposite the child and want them to refer to your left and right this is a more difficult task: this equates to working at Level 3 (8 to 9 year old typical development). |
| "Draw it" barrier activity Paper Pens Cards with pictures of two items drawn next to each other, e.g. car and cat, tree and house | ||
| Matching pairs Matching pairs cards. Visual prompt for left, right, up and down like this: ↑ up ←left right→ down ↓ | Sit next to the child so that your left is the same as their left. Note: if you are sitting opposite the child and want them to refer to your left and right this is a more difficult task: this equates to working at Level 3 (8 to 9 year old typical development). Use an appropriate number of pairs for the age and ability of the child. If the child struggles with giving instructions using up/down, put the cards in one long horizontal line and work only on "left" and "right". Vary your starting point so the child has the opportunity to use all the direction words. You can use the words further and nearer instead of up and down, if it is more appropriate, but you must be consistent in which word you choose. |
think and talk about events in the past and future
| Activity/strategy name and materials required | How to do the activity | Key principles for doing the activity and comments |
|---|---|---|
| Which day? Card with 3 boxes, for yesterday, today and tomorrow A jumping frog (or any other toy animal that jumps!) | 1. Talk about each day, one at a time. Have the child draw or write key things they have done or that they will do in each box. 2. When you have finished, explain that there is going to be a quiz. Describe an activity and the child must say if they did it yesterday, today or if they will do it tomorrow. 3. Have them jump the frog onto the right day. | This works best when there are key things which are different about each day! |
| Walter the Worm Set of three toy animals - a small one, a medium sized one, and a large one - all the same colour - for example three plastic worms
Large 'thought clouds ' on A3 or A4 paper: Sticky tape Pens | * It is better to do this over at least two sessions. If the child is finding it easy to think about this, you could repeat the activity but have the child think about when he was a baby, and then about when he is grown up. | |
| Calendar Calendar Pens | This is an ongoing activity You could take photos of the key events, and put them on the calendar | |
| Visual Timetable Any activity where you use a visual timetable This activity is also suitable for working with children at lower levels: for example to develop communication about past present and future experiences (English Speaking P7), and sequence pictures of daily events (Maths Shape Space and Measures P8). You can make a visual timetable with symbols using the Commtap Symboliser for PowerPoint.
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name 3d shapes eg sphere
| Activity/strategy name and materials required | How to do the activity | Key principles for doing the activity and comments |
|---|---|---|
| 3D shapes Printed cards with pictures of the shapes and their names. Selection of 3D shapes. | 1. Use simple 3D shapes like cube, sphere etc. 2. Make a model with them and label the different shapes you can see. 3. Match the shapes shown in the cards with the 3D shapes. 4. See if the child can name some of the shapes they can see. 5. Ask the children to use their shapes to make the same model. See if they can name the shapes as they go, and tell you where they are. | Start with a small number of different shapes - e.g. cubes and cones. |
| 3D and 2D shapes Printed cards with shapes and names. Selection of 2D and 3D shapes. |
understand and use comparatives and superlatives
| Activity/strategy name and materials required | How to do the activity | Key principles for doing the activity and comments |
|---|---|---|
| About my class Classroom equipment: Pencil, Paper, Etc. Prompt cards with the key words (as indicated in the text of the activity) written on. | 1. Working with a group of children, help the group to line up in order of height. 2. Ask one child to identify the tallest (or biggest) and shortest (or smallest) person. Help as necessary. 3. Give the tallest person a card that says "tallest", and give the shortest person a card that says "shortest". 4. Explain that 'taller' means "more tall". Find two children who have quite different heights. Say e.g. "Martin is taller than Fatima". Explain that 'shorter' means "more short". Say e.g. "Fatima is shorter than Martin" 5. Ask each child to identify one person who is taller and shorter than themselves. 6. You can repeat this activity comparing other features such as: biggest/smallest shoes longest/shortest hair widest/narrowest hand span heaviest/lightest person person who can jump the longest/ shortest distance person who lives nearest to/furthest from school most/fewest brothers and sisters most/fewest letters in the name longest/shortest hair oldest/youngest person or anything else you think of! | This is a group activity. This work could be tied in with practical maths activities such as measuring and weighing people. You could make a graph or table to record the information. It is easier to make comparisons between two people (or things) that are very different, rather than things that are quite similar (e.g. a very tall and a very short person, rather than two people who are almost the same height.) |
| Sort the pencils Selection of pencils | An activity for individuals. | |
| Order of age Pictures showing people at different stages of life (e.g. baby, toddler, young child, older child, teenager, young adult, middle aged adult, old adult) | An activity for individuals. This could be linked to a Science or PSHE activity about growth and development. You could use pictures from an animal's life cycle as well as a human's. | |
| Superlative pass the parcel Pass the parcel consisting of the following: A small prize in the centre (a bag of sweets/raisins etc. which the group can share is a good idea). Several layers of paper, each one needs a sticky label with a description on it. Each description needs to contain a superlative e.g.: the oldest person the youngest person the tallest person the shortest person the person with the biggest feet the person with the smallest feet. the person with the longest hair the person with the shortest hair the person who was born furthest away the person who was born nearest the person who lives furthest away the person who lives nearest the person who has the most brothers and sisters the person who has the fewest brothers and sisters the person who speaks the most different languages the person who has had fewest turns at the game anything else you can think of! | This is a group activity. This activity requires a significant amount of preparation. If you use alternate coloured paper to wrap each layer, it is easier for the children to see when they have got all the paper off. Make sure you have access to a bin when you are playing the game! |
before after then in sentences
| Activity/strategy name and materials required | How to do the activity | Key principles for doing the activity and comments |
|---|---|---|
| Timetable Game A blank timetable for a school day (or week) Flashcards with lessons and other school day activities on them (e.g. assembly, playtime, literacy, history etc) Pen and paper or whiteboard | 1. Explain that you are going to give instructions and the children should take it in turns to listen to you and put the right things on the timetable. 2. Give an instruction, using 'before', 'after' and 'then'. E.g. 'Before lunch I have numeracy and then handwriting. After lunch I have ICT.' 3. Note down what you have said on paper or a whiteboard so that the children can check later. 4. Have the children take it in turns to put the things on the timetable in the order you have said. 5. Let them check it against your notes. | Give the children a chance to give instructions too. |
| Simon Says Imagination! | At first you should choose to either work on 'before' or 'after' or 'then'. Once the children respond to each concept appropriately when used individually, use them contrastively, i.e. mix instructions containing 'before' with others containing 'after'. Initially you may need to provide plenty of model responses yourself; you may need to build up the sentence to show how they work: for example say 'jump on the spot', then 'touch your head after you jump on the spot'. Make sure the child listens to the whole instruction. Make sure that you give each instruction in one go, and not as several short ones. | |
| Barrier games Pictures to colour Pens OR Blank paper Pens OR Sets of objects | It can be difficult to see what order children do the steps in, so watch carefully. They may be able to number what they do too, but after they have finished the instruction as it's too much to remember all at once. Make sure the children cannot see each others sheets to copy! You can use blank paper and have them draw things rather than colour what is already there. Or you can use objects to make a pattern and the children must make the same as yours. | |
| Picture sequencing to descriptions Sets of pictures (one for each child) E.g. food pictures, clothes pictures, activities, or topic related words. | Have the children take turns giving a description too. |
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