Do Maths in Nature
Collect natural materials and use them to do some mathematics activities.
Use the resources around you to do maths outside today. If you have an oak tree nearby, collect acorns. If you don’t have an oak tree nearby, what can you collect? See if you can make a collection of nuts, seeds, leaves, stones etc Once you have your collection, start your nature maths! Below you will find lots of ideas for ways to incorporate mathematical language and problem solving into your children’s nature play.
-Sort the objects from smallest to largest, or from shortest to tallest. Compare them by holding them next to each other. This is the beginning of learning about measurement. You could extend this by measuring with objects e.g. How many acorns long is the feather?
-Count the objects! Older children could put them into groups of 2, 5, or 10 and skip count. E.g. 2,4,6,8,10… Was this faster than counting them one at a time? Discuss this with the children.
-Sort your objects into groups according to attributes e.g. color, size, shape. Discuss the groups using words like ‘most’, ‘not many’, ‘some’, ‘lots’, ‘more’, ‘less’ e.g. “Most acorns were plain brown, not many had yellow patches”. “Some acorns have little ‘caps’, but more of them have no cap.” “A few acorns had split shells, some had broken tops, and lots had lines on their shells.” This is mathematical language and is really important to use with your child!
-Do some problem solving! “If I have 5 acorns here and I give you 2 of them, how many will I have left?” “If we have 3 acorns each, how many have we got altogether?” “How many acorns and stones have we got if we put them all together?” “If we have 20 stones and I give you half of them, how many will I have left? What if we share them between 4 people?”
-Make shapes out of the objects that you find in nature. Or, find different shapes in nature. That’s geometry!
-Make patterns with natural objects and see if your child can continue the pattern. E.g. acorn, stone, leaf, acorn, stone, leaf… what will go next in this line? That’s algebra!
Who knew that maths could be so fun!
