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Mathathletics

Familiarity with the language and topics of maths helps to develop confidence and skills.

Many dyslexic learners are good at maths, but can get bogged down with the language and can also find it difficult to transfer learning from the maths lesson into Real Life.

Mathatheltics offers opportunities to engage family fun whilst exercising maths in different settings. Enjoy!

Mathathletics –

exercise your maths with family entertainment

Sugar samples:

Give each player a cup and ask them to fill it with 10 grams of sugar. Weigh their sugar samples and work out which one is closest to 10 grams. Take it in turns to set new challenges with different ingredients.

Weight lifting:

Fill a shopping bag (or two) with different items which are labelled with their weight (e.g. tinned tomatoes: 400g). When you can only just lift the bag, work out how much weight is in the bag. Is your right arm stronger than your left arm? Is the weight in the bag more or less than 1/2 your own weight?

How long is a piece of string?

Cut a piece of string and ask players to estimate its length. Who is closest to the right answer? Take it in turns to set new challenges which use millimetre, centimetres and metres.

Flow rate:

Fill a bottle with a litre of water (or half fill a 2 litre empty bottle with water) and, using a second hand timer (e.g. watch/mobile) challenge players to empty the bottle over a 30 second period. They need to guess the time and adjust the flow-rate to match the challenge, but at the point the last drop pours out, their time stops. Who is the best at matching flow-rate with 30 seconds?

Sum stories:

Agree on a sum. Take it in turns to create a story that uses that sum.

e.g. 24 + 6 = 30:

My team scored 24 goals in the local league teams and 6 goals in the Under 16s Champion Cup games. That’s 30 goals in just one season.

I normally drive 24 miles to Granny’s house, but now they have closed East Lane, I have to drive an extra 6 miles to go through Twiddletown instead. That makes it a 30 mile journey to get to Granny’s house.

e.g. 20 ÷ 5 = 4

If there are 5 weeks before our holiday, and I want to have £20 spending money, then I need to put £4 a week into my holiday fund.

If we’re going to walk the coast-path between St Ives and St Just (which is about 20 miles), and we aim to walk 5 miles a day, it’ll take us 4 days to do the journey.


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