Exploring balance and centres of mass can be great fun. The
resulting structures can seem impossible. Here are some images to
encourage you to experiment with non-breakable objects of your own.
Make some celtic knot patterns using tiling techniques
This package contains hands-on code breaking activities based on
the Enigma Schools Project. Suitable for Stages 2, 3 and 4.
These models have appeared around the Centre for Mathematical Sciences. Perhaps you would like to try to make some similar models of your own.
This article for pupils gives an introduction to Celtic knotwork
patterns and a feel for how you can draw them.
This article for students gives some instructions about how to make some different braids.
You could use just coloured pencils and paper to create this
design, but it will be more eye-catching if you can get hold of
hammer, nails and string.
It might seem impossible but it is possible. How can you cut a
playing card to make a hole big enough to walk through?
Make a spiral mobile.
In this article for teachers, Bernard uses some problems to suggest
that once a numerical pattern has been spotted from a practical
starting point, going back to the practical can help explain. . . .
Learn about Pen Up and Pen Down in Logo
Galileo, a famous inventor who lived about 400 years ago, came up
with an idea similar to this for making a time measuring
instrument. Can you turn your pendulum into an accurate minute
Arrange your fences to make the largest rectangular space you can. Try with four fences, then five, then six etc.
Follow these instructions to make a three-piece and/or seven-piece
A game to make and play based on the number line.
Learn how to draw circles using Logo. Wait a minute! Are they really circles? If not what are they?
This is the second in a twelve part introduction to Logo for beginners. In this part you learn to draw polygons.
More Logo for beginners. Now learn more about the REPEAT command.
A description of how to make the five Platonic solids out of paper.
Make an equilateral triangle by folding paper and use it to make
patterns of your own.
Ideas for practical ways of representing data such as Venn and
Use the tangram pieces to make our pictures, or to design some of
Make a ball from triangles!
Make a cube with three strips of paper. Colour three faces or use
the numbers 1 to 6 to make a die.
Using these kite and dart templates, you could try to recreate part
of Penrose's famous tessellation or design one yourself.
These are pictures of the sea defences at New Brighton. Can you
work out what a basic shape might be in both images of the sea wall
and work out a way they might fit together?
Surprise your friends with this magic square trick.
Have you noticed that triangles are used in manmade structures?
Perhaps there is a good reason for this? 'Test a Triangle' and see
how rigid triangles are.
How can you make a curve from straight strips of paper?
Did you know mazes tell stories? Find out more about mazes and make
one of your own.
Make a mobius band and investigate its properties.
Have a go at drawing these stars which use six points drawn around
a circle. Perhaps you can create your own designs?
This is a simple paper-folding activity that gives an intriguing result which you can then investigate further.
Follow these instructions to make a five-pointed snowflake from a
square of paper.
It's hard to make a snowflake with six perfect lines of symmetry,
but it's fun to try!
Here are some ideas to try in the classroom for using counters to investigate number patterns.
A game in which players take it in turns to choose a number. Can you block your opponent?
If you have ten counters numbered 1 to 10, how many can you put into pairs that add to 10? Which ones do you have to leave out? Why?
Make your own double-sided magic square. But can you complete both
sides once you've made the pieces?
This project challenges you to work out the number of cubes hidden
under a cloth. What questions would you like to ask?
Take a counter and surround it by a ring of other counters that
MUST touch two others. How many are needed?
Follow the diagrams to make this patchwork piece, based on an
octagon in a square.
Use the three triangles to fill these outline shapes. Perhaps you can create some of your own shapes for a friend to fill?
Kaia is sure that her father has worn a particular tie twice a week
in at least five of the last ten weeks, but her father disagrees.
Who do you think is right?
If you'd like to know more about Primary Maths Masterclasses, this
is the package to read! Find out about current groups in your
region or how to set up your own.
Ahmed is making rods using different numbers of cubes. Which rod is twice the length of his first rod?
What shapes can you make by folding an A4 piece of paper?
You have a set of the digits from 0 – 9. Can you arrange these in the 5 boxes to make two-digit numbers as close to the targets as possible?
Kate has eight multilink cubes. She has two red ones, two yellow, two green and two blue. She wants to fit them together to make a cube so that each colour shows on each face just once.
Can you each work out the number on your card? What do you notice?
How could you sort the cards?