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In this guest blog on how to build times tables confidence, the creators of the tacklingtables method offer helpful advice on how to build times tables confidence, and why it matters.
Explore 5 sensory play Tuff Tray ideas for toddlers and preschoolers that offer lots of fun, tactile ways to play and learn with Learning Resources.
Explore 5 sensory play Tuff Tray ideas for toddlers and preschoolers that offer lots of fun, tactile ways to play and learn with Learning Resources.
Find out why learning times tables is important for child, and how to build times tables confidence and mental maths fluency at home through play-based learning.
Find out why learning times tables is important for child, and how to build times tables confidence and mental maths fluency at home through play-based learning.
Bring the outdoor learning in with this fun free bugs craft for kids. Read more & check out the free activity printable that's creative, fun, and easy!
Bring the outdoor learning in with this fun free bugs craft for kids. Read more & check out the free activity printable that's creative, fun, and easy!
What is STEM? Emma Vanstone, the creator of Science Sparks and author of several books packed with fun science experiments for children, explores what is STEM, with easy ideas on STEM learning at home.
What is STEM? Emma Vanstone, the creator of Science Sparks and author of several books packed with fun science experiments for children, explores what is STEM, with easy ideas on STEM learning at home.
Playing shop is a fun way for children to learn money sense and build maths fluency through fun creative play. Guest blogger, mum and maths teacher Nazreen Ichhaporia - Math.Mama on Instagram - explores how she has introduced money-related maths learning activities to her son's playtime.
The aisles are full of delicious fruit and vegetables, the freshly baked doughnuts are flying off the shelves, the cashier greets each shopper by name and counts their change out loud. Part of me thinks I'm in a Middle Eastern Bazaar. All that's missing are a few hanging tarps, silk carpets and dried fruits. But I'm not in the Middle East. I'm in the middle of my son's playroom! He throws items back into the basket, hands back a few coins to his friend and takes a big pretend bite out of a wooden carrot.
Children enjoy watching and imitating, and by doing so get to understand the world around them. My son has always been interested in what I am doing. Some of his favourite activities include helping me put dirty clothes in the washing machine, stirring food in pots and pans and putting items in the trolley at the supermarket.
Like many children, one of his first outside experiences involved going to a supermarket, and this regular outing was later reflected in imaginative play at home. Even the swiping of the loyalty card is something I would find him imitating with random bits of paper.
As I look around the playroom, I can see so many skills being developed. Children learn about counting and money recognition whilst exchanging coins. They practice sorting when organising items in their shop.
Mathematical concepts such as weight and volume are practiced whilst weighing and trying to fit items into baskets, trolleys, containers, and bags. Creativity is also clear when children design their own shop layouts and role plays. Learning the basics of money through this kind of play is a great precursor to the tasks that will be expected of children once they get to school.
Here are 10 fun activities that transform your little one’s play supermarket into a maths adventure land:
A Learning Resources Cash Register is a toy that can grow with a child. A young child will simply play with the buttons, but as they grow and math skills start to develop, they will take an interest in counting coins to pay for items. A grocery store is one type of set-up, but here we created an ice-cream shop.
This works well because children can design their own ice-cream by selecting a range of toppings, adding up the total cost for the ice-cream and paying for it. Children can also practice subtraction by calculating the change for each ice-cream purchase. For artistic children, an ice-cream shop is also a wonderful opportunity to get out bright colours and invent different ice cream designs and flavours!
This activity was inspired by my mother - a child at heart and a great lover of ice-cream. When visiting us, she would race to our local ice-cream shop and select all the toppings, forgetting that each extra topping would increase the price of her sweet treat. I always laughed at her surprised reaction when the cashier told her the final price; however, she always said it was worth it.
Sorting and classifying are mathematical skills that children develop from an early age. In fact, research shows that children who develop these skills at a young age take to mathematics more easily later.
When cleaning up toys, children naturally practice this skill, putting the plastic construction blocks, and wooden building blocks in separate baskets. Grouping toys by colour, shape or size is a popular activity for children and the same can be done with coins.
Coins can be grouped according to value, size, or colour. For a geographical challenge, you could add foreign change to your pounds and pennies. Extra points are available when they can identify which coins belong to which countries!
For this game, children roll two dice and add the dots to develop addition-fluency. They can also practice subitising skills when they start recognising the number rolled on the dice without counting the dots.
The rules are simple: roll the dice, add the total and create the value with coins. This is a quick addition activity that allows children to notice that there are different combinations leading to the same totals. For instance, if a total of 6 is rolled, then a child could use 2p, 2p, 2p, 1p, 1p, 1p, 1p, 1p, 1p or 1p, 5p.
For more of a challenge with bigger numbers we used a spinner. Children can spin and show ways to make the amount using as many different coin combinations as possible.
Children who are learning about the value of different coins can practice ordering them according to their values. For a quick activity, we tried ordering 10p, 1p, 2p and 5p and came across an interesting question. Is the 2p worth the most because it looks the largest? The assumption that larger coins are worth more is a common one made by children.
A good strategy to help with learning the value of various coins is to first introduce coins alongside their values represented as dots. This is helpful because dots are familiar, children see them on dice and already have experiences counting dots. Children can understand the value of each coin by matching the number of dots to it.
Too much loose change can make wallets very bulky. This is just one reason why my husband has a great dislike for small change and prefers notes. I am the opposite and I enjoy having a variety of coins in my purse and find it satisfying when I use up my small change to pay for a purchase exactly.
It was my husband's detest for loose change that served as inspiration for this activity, which involves children representing amounts with as few coins and notes as possible.
The activity enables children to recognise the different combinations of coins and notes which can be used to make simple purchases. A possible exchange would be five £1 coins for a £5 note, such a trade would make my husband very happy!
This activity involves placing price tags on a few items around your home. I used the price tag cards which came with the Learning Resources Money Activity Set and put them on a book, an apple, a bag, a pair of trousers, a teddy bear and a photo frame.
Children can pretend to go shopping for these objects and practice their counting skills when matching coins to price tags.
For further challenge, children could take on buyer and seller roles, where the buyer can pay for items with larger denominations and the seller would have to calculate the correct change.
If you're looking for a fun activity which allows children to practice addition and subtraction skills with money, try this game. The aim is to be the first person to spin a total of £1. Players take it in turns to either add or subtract the value obtained on the spinner. We used the spinner from our Money Activity Set and made £1 in many ways!
Arrays are great for learning about multiplication and, as an arrangement of objects in rows and columns, it is possible to make them from many different things. Here we used a collection of 12 coins to create an array showing 3 x 4 (3 rows and 4 columns).
Ask your child to grab their favourite coins and explore multiplication facts in a meaningful way.
If you're looking for a creative take on the coin array activity above, you could use a technique called coin rubbing. We used 12 coins under a piece of paper to form the array, we then gently rubbed a coloured pencil (you could use a crayon) over the paper until the coin pattern showed.
It was intriguing to study coin designs this way. We even discussed the popularity of images such as of lions and roses in British coin design.
We used our Learning Resources Money Activity Set puzzle cards to match price tag cards to the correct coin cards. It is easier to start with smaller values (under £1) until your child feels confident enough to tackle larger amounts.
There you have it! A few interesting tasks for exciting play and maths learning that don’t make anyone’s brain hurt. By integrating maths learning and meaning into everyday activities and items, children can see how maths is all around us and woven into our everyday lives. By nurturing an early enjoyment of maths for your child, you are opening a world for them that they will be able to appreciate for a lifetime.
Read more fun maths learning tips from Nazreen in Outdoor Maths Activities for Kids.
 | About the author: Nazreen Ichhaporia is a maths teacher and tutor. Follow her at math.mama on Instagram where she creates and shares easy, creative maths learning ideas, and all the beautiful images you’ve seen here. |
Playing shop is a fun way for children to learn money sense and build maths fluency through fun creative play. Guest blogger, mum and maths teacher Nazreen Ichhaporia - Math.Mama on Instagram - explores how she has introduced money-related maths learning activities to her son's playtime.
The aisles are full of delicious fruit and vegetables, the freshly baked doughnuts are flying off the shelves, the cashier greets each shopper by name and counts their change out loud. Part of me thinks I'm in a Middle Eastern Bazaar. All that's missing are a few hanging tarps, silk carpets and dried fruits. But I'm not in the Middle East. I'm in the middle of my son's playroom! He throws items back into the basket, hands back a few coins to his friend and takes a big pretend bite out of a wooden carrot.
Children enjoy watching and imitating, and by doing so get to understand the world around them. My son has always been interested in what I am doing. Some of his favourite activities include helping me put dirty clothes in the washing machine, stirring food in pots and pans and putting items in the trolley at the supermarket.
Like many children, one of his first outside experiences involved going to a supermarket, and this regular outing was later reflected in imaginative play at home. Even the swiping of the loyalty card is something I would find him imitating with random bits of paper.
As I look around the playroom, I can see so many skills being developed. Children learn about counting and money recognition whilst exchanging coins. They practice sorting when organising items in their shop.
Mathematical concepts such as weight and volume are practiced whilst weighing and trying to fit items into baskets, trolleys, containers, and bags. Creativity is also clear when children design their own shop layouts and role plays. Learning the basics of money through this kind of play is a great precursor to the tasks that will be expected of children once they get to school.
Here are 10 fun activities that transform your little one’s play supermarket into a maths adventure land:
A Learning Resources Cash Register is a toy that can grow with a child. A young child will simply play with the buttons, but as they grow and math skills start to develop, they will take an interest in counting coins to pay for items. A grocery store is one type of set-up, but here we created an ice-cream shop.
This works well because children can design their own ice-cream by selecting a range of toppings, adding up the total cost for the ice-cream and paying for it. Children can also practice subtraction by calculating the change for each ice-cream purchase. For artistic children, an ice-cream shop is also a wonderful opportunity to get out bright colours and invent different ice cream designs and flavours!
This activity was inspired by my mother - a child at heart and a great lover of ice-cream. When visiting us, she would race to our local ice-cream shop and select all the toppings, forgetting that each extra topping would increase the price of her sweet treat. I always laughed at her surprised reaction when the cashier told her the final price; however, she always said it was worth it.
Sorting and classifying are mathematical skills that children develop from an early age. In fact, research shows that children who develop these skills at a young age take to mathematics more easily later.
When cleaning up toys, children naturally practice this skill, putting the plastic construction blocks, and wooden building blocks in separate baskets. Grouping toys by colour, shape or size is a popular activity for children and the same can be done with coins.
Coins can be grouped according to value, size, or colour. For a geographical challenge, you could add foreign change to your pounds and pennies. Extra points are available when they can identify which coins belong to which countries!
For this game, children roll two dice and add the dots to develop addition-fluency. They can also practice subitising skills when they start recognising the number rolled on the dice without counting the dots.
The rules are simple: roll the dice, add the total and create the value with coins. This is a quick addition activity that allows children to notice that there are different combinations leading to the same totals. For instance, if a total of 6 is rolled, then a child could use 2p, 2p, 2p, 1p, 1p, 1p, 1p, 1p, 1p or 1p, 5p.
For more of a challenge with bigger numbers we used a spinner. Children can spin and show ways to make the amount using as many different coin combinations as possible.
Children who are learning about the value of different coins can practice ordering them according to their values. For a quick activity, we tried ordering 10p, 1p, 2p and 5p and came across an interesting question. Is the 2p worth the most because it looks the largest? The assumption that larger coins are worth more is a common one made by children.
A good strategy to help with learning the value of various coins is to first introduce coins alongside their values represented as dots. This is helpful because dots are familiar, children see them on dice and already have experiences counting dots. Children can understand the value of each coin by matching the number of dots to it.
Too much loose change can make wallets very bulky. This is just one reason why my husband has a great dislike for small change and prefers notes. I am the opposite and I enjoy having a variety of coins in my purse and find it satisfying when I use up my small change to pay for a purchase exactly.
It was my husband's detest for loose change that served as inspiration for this activity, which involves children representing amounts with as few coins and notes as possible.
The activity enables children to recognise the different combinations of coins and notes which can be used to make simple purchases. A possible exchange would be five £1 coins for a £5 note, such a trade would make my husband very happy!
This activity involves placing price tags on a few items around your home. I used the price tag cards which came with the Learning Resources Money Activity Set and put them on a book, an apple, a bag, a pair of trousers, a teddy bear and a photo frame.
Children can pretend to go shopping for these objects and practice their counting skills when matching coins to price tags.
For further challenge, children could take on buyer and seller roles, where the buyer can pay for items with larger denominations and the seller would have to calculate the correct change.
If you're looking for a fun activity which allows children to practice addition and subtraction skills with money, try this game. The aim is to be the first person to spin a total of £1. Players take it in turns to either add or subtract the value obtained on the spinner. We used the spinner from our Money Activity Set and made £1 in many ways!
Arrays are great for learning about multiplication and, as an arrangement of objects in rows and columns, it is possible to make them from many different things. Here we used a collection of 12 coins to create an array showing 3 x 4 (3 rows and 4 columns).
Ask your child to grab their favourite coins and explore multiplication facts in a meaningful way.
If you're looking for a creative take on the coin array activity above, you could use a technique called coin rubbing. We used 12 coins under a piece of paper to form the array, we then gently rubbed a coloured pencil (you could use a crayon) over the paper until the coin pattern showed.
It was intriguing to study coin designs this way. We even discussed the popularity of images such as of lions and roses in British coin design.
We used our Learning Resources Money Activity Set puzzle cards to match price tag cards to the correct coin cards. It is easier to start with smaller values (under £1) until your child feels confident enough to tackle larger amounts.
There you have it! A few interesting tasks for exciting play and maths learning that don’t make anyone’s brain hurt. By integrating maths learning and meaning into everyday activities and items, children can see how maths is all around us and woven into our everyday lives. By nurturing an early enjoyment of maths for your child, you are opening a world for them that they will be able to appreciate for a lifetime.
Read more fun maths learning tips from Nazreen in Outdoor Maths Activities for Kids.
| About the author: Nazreen Ichhaporia is a maths teacher and tutor. Follow her at math.mama on Instagram where she creates and shares easy, creative maths learning ideas, and all the beautiful images you’ve seen here. |
DNA is in every cell in our bodies and carries all the information about how we look and function. For scientists like Dr Mandy Hartley, DNA holds all sorts of fascinating details about us. During her scientific career, Dr Hartley has solved all kinds of DNA mysteries and even set up the forensic laboratories used by Norfolk Constabulary to investigate crimes.
Today, mum of two Mandy helps children learn more about this fascinating field of science through her kid-friendly science workshops and her DNA Detectives children’s books series where kids aged 7-12 learn about DNA science through three engaging adventure stories.
“I have always loved science and even at school I knew this was the career path I wanted to pursue. Children as young as four can learn about DNA through fun, engaging activities and stories.”
Catch Mandy at the Norwich Science Festival at Home on Sunday, 25 October 2020 at 3pm for a fun online workshop where you learn more about how archaeologists use DNA to solve mysteries about the past. Plus you could win a GeoSafari MicroPro Microscope! (Please note this competition has closed.)
In this blog, Mandy tells children more about how detectives solve crimes using DNA.
DNA is in our cells and is a set of instructions to build us. It holds the information that decides our hair, eye, and skin colour, even whether we like Brussels sprouts or can roll our tongues and much more.
Everybody’s DNA is different and unique to them (unless you are an identical twin). It’s not just humans who have DNA, all living things have DNA including plants, animals, and micro-organisms. Everything on the inside and outside of your body is covered in cells including your skin, organs, hair, and nails. If we touch something, we will leave some of our cells which are full of DNA behind. If found at a crime scene, DNA can help detectives identify potential suspects.
Let’s imagine a scene - someone has crept into your classroom at school during break time and stolen the sweets on the teacher’s desk. A detective would be tasked with solving the crime and arresting the suspect.
Once the case is reported to the police, Scenes of Crime Officers (SOCOs) are sent to the scene to collect evidence. They will also interview any potential witnesses to build up an idea of what has occurred and identify any potential suspects. Samples of DNA will be taken from those suspects.
The SOCO’s first job is to seal off the crime scene so the evidence is not disturbed or contaminated with other people’s DNA. Evidence will be used to build a story of what happened. It’s important to photograph the scene and the evidence just like we’ve done with our crime scene table below.
Sometimes, the location of the evidence may help us put the story together. It can tell us where the suspect entered the scene and where they left. The pathway between these points needs to be investigated to look for any traces the thief may have left behind.
It’s important that Scenes of Crime Officers wear a special forensic overall, gloves, a face mask and foot coverings. This is so we don’t leave our own DNA at a crime scene and contaminate the evidence.
SOCOs look for any cells that could help with their investigation. These include blood, wee, pooh, hair, bogies, saliva, anything that the suspect has worn or touched, nails, and any other fluid produced by the body.
SOCOs look for items they think could hold DNA. This could be a pair of sunglasses, a plaster, a half-eaten lolly, or a hair. When SOCOs find items which they think could have DNA, these are either swabbed at the scene using a swab that looks like a cotton bud or sent to a laboratory.
All items are sealed in evidence bags. These evidence bags are carefully labelled and recorded so they don’t become contaminated, lost, or fall into the wrong hands. SOCOs will also look for other evidence including fingerprints, shoe prints, any fibres left behind from clothing or material used by a suspect.
The items of evidence collected by the scenes of crime officers are sent to the laboratory for analysis by the forensic scientists. Some of the samples like the blood and bogies may be tested to confirm that the sample really is blood or bogies. The tissue might be tested to see where the saliva/bogies are on the tissue. This gives the forensic scientists the best chance of getting DNA from that sample.
The forensic scientists extract DNA from the samples and process them to get a DNA profile. This is a pattern which can be used to identify someone. The scientists compare the unknown DNA profiles found at the crime scene to the DNA profiles from any suspects they may have to see if they get a match. They might also compare the unknown DNA with the national DNA Database which holds the DNA profiles from known criminals.
It is important to realise that just because DNA is found at a crime scene it doesn’t mean someone is guilty. The police need to interview that person to see if they have a good reason for being at the crime scene, or they need to figure out whether someone might have planted their DNA at the scene. They will also look for further evidence.
Forensic scientists will produce a report for the police based on all the forensic evidence they have found and analysed. If there is enough evidence, they will be asked to present this evidence in court in front of a judge and jury. They must present what they believe is the most likely story of what happened at the crime scene given the evidence they have found.
Do you want to learn more about DNA and forensic science? Find out more about Dr Hartley’s DNA Detectives books. Suitable for kids aged 7-12, they make science learning about DNA engaging and fun.
 | About Dr Mandy Hartley:Mum of two, Dr Mandy Hartley has a PhD in Genetics, is the founder of The Little Story Telling Company and has written three children’s books. The DNA Detectives series books are aimed at children aged 7-12 and encourage an interest in STEM learning through exciting, engaging adventure stories. Follow Dr Hartley on Facebook and Twitter. |
DNA is in every cell in our bodies and carries all the information about how we look and function. For scientists like Dr Mandy Hartley, DNA holds all sorts of fascinating details about us. During her scientific career, Dr Hartley has solved all kinds of DNA mysteries and even set up the forensic laboratories used by Norfolk Constabulary to investigate crimes.
Today, mum of two Mandy helps children learn more about this fascinating field of science through her kid-friendly science workshops and her DNA Detectives children’s books series where kids aged 7-12 learn about DNA science through three engaging adventure stories.
“I have always loved science and even at school I knew this was the career path I wanted to pursue. Children as young as four can learn about DNA through fun, engaging activities and stories.”
Catch Mandy at the Norwich Science Festival at Home on Sunday, 25 October 2020 at 3pm for a fun online workshop where you learn more about how archaeologists use DNA to solve mysteries about the past. Plus you could win a GeoSafari MicroPro Microscope! (Please note this competition has closed.)
In this blog, Mandy tells children more about how detectives solve crimes using DNA.
DNA is in our cells and is a set of instructions to build us. It holds the information that decides our hair, eye, and skin colour, even whether we like Brussels sprouts or can roll our tongues and much more.
Everybody’s DNA is different and unique to them (unless you are an identical twin). It’s not just humans who have DNA, all living things have DNA including plants, animals, and micro-organisms. Everything on the inside and outside of your body is covered in cells including your skin, organs, hair, and nails. If we touch something, we will leave some of our cells which are full of DNA behind. If found at a crime scene, DNA can help detectives identify potential suspects.
Let’s imagine a scene - someone has crept into your classroom at school during break time and stolen the sweets on the teacher’s desk. A detective would be tasked with solving the crime and arresting the suspect.
Once the case is reported to the police, Scenes of Crime Officers (SOCOs) are sent to the scene to collect evidence. They will also interview any potential witnesses to build up an idea of what has occurred and identify any potential suspects. Samples of DNA will be taken from those suspects.
The SOCO’s first job is to seal off the crime scene so the evidence is not disturbed or contaminated with other people’s DNA. Evidence will be used to build a story of what happened. It’s important to photograph the scene and the evidence just like we’ve done with our crime scene table below.
Sometimes, the location of the evidence may help us put the story together. It can tell us where the suspect entered the scene and where they left. The pathway between these points needs to be investigated to look for any traces the thief may have left behind.
It’s important that Scenes of Crime Officers wear a special forensic overall, gloves, a face mask and foot coverings. This is so we don’t leave our own DNA at a crime scene and contaminate the evidence.
SOCOs look for any cells that could help with their investigation. These include blood, wee, pooh, hair, bogies, saliva, anything that the suspect has worn or touched, nails, and any other fluid produced by the body.
SOCOs look for items they think could hold DNA. This could be a pair of sunglasses, a plaster, a half-eaten lolly, or a hair. When SOCOs find items which they think could have DNA, these are either swabbed at the scene using a swab that looks like a cotton bud or sent to a laboratory.
All items are sealed in evidence bags. These evidence bags are carefully labelled and recorded so they don’t become contaminated, lost, or fall into the wrong hands. SOCOs will also look for other evidence including fingerprints, shoe prints, any fibres left behind from clothing or material used by a suspect.
The items of evidence collected by the scenes of crime officers are sent to the laboratory for analysis by the forensic scientists. Some of the samples like the blood and bogies may be tested to confirm that the sample really is blood or bogies. The tissue might be tested to see where the saliva/bogies are on the tissue. This gives the forensic scientists the best chance of getting DNA from that sample.
The forensic scientists extract DNA from the samples and process them to get a DNA profile. This is a pattern which can be used to identify someone. The scientists compare the unknown DNA profiles found at the crime scene to the DNA profiles from any suspects they may have to see if they get a match. They might also compare the unknown DNA with the national DNA Database which holds the DNA profiles from known criminals.
It is important to realise that just because DNA is found at a crime scene it doesn’t mean someone is guilty. The police need to interview that person to see if they have a good reason for being at the crime scene, or they need to figure out whether someone might have planted their DNA at the scene. They will also look for further evidence.
Forensic scientists will produce a report for the police based on all the forensic evidence they have found and analysed. If there is enough evidence, they will be asked to present this evidence in court in front of a judge and jury. They must present what they believe is the most likely story of what happened at the crime scene given the evidence they have found.
Do you want to learn more about DNA and forensic science? Find out more about Dr Hartley’s DNA Detectives books. Suitable for kids aged 7-12, they make science learning about DNA engaging and fun.
| About Dr Mandy Hartley:Mum of two, Dr Mandy Hartley has a PhD in Genetics, is the founder of The Little Story Telling Company and has written three children’s books. The DNA Detectives series books are aimed at children aged 7-12 and encourage an interest in STEM learning through exciting, engaging adventure stories. Follow Dr Hartley on Facebook and Twitter. |
