Numeracy Through Play

“The best maths lesson ever!” – as described by one pupil. Another summed it up perfectly: “It was fun and educational.”

Today, numeracy met play as our pupils designed and built gingerbread houses using custard creams, icing and sweets giving pupils the opportunity to demonstrate the learning they have developed throughout the term.

Before the construction began, pupils applied a range of mathematical skills including measuring and rounding to the nearest centimetre, finding the area of each biscuit, calculating the total area of the walls (linked to real-life examples such as painting a house), exploring perimeter, and calculating the volume of their houses – a strong link to current classroom learning.

To extend their learning further, each group was given a £10 budget. Pupils used addition and subtraction to plan their spending, choose decorations within their budget, and calculate their final spend and change.

A wonderful example of hands-on, purposeful learning, showing how play can make maths engaging, meaningful and memorable.