The following is the Maths Trail we used at my school at the end of

Maths Week. The school was spilt up into 4 Zones, each Zone had 4 or 5
activities, and each activity had 3 tasks. The pupils were encouraged to
try all the activities.

Each activity was labelled with the Zone and activity number, and had a
picture on the front with the name of the zone and activity, on the back
were the tasks for that activity.

These sheets were laminated, back to back, and tied on to, or near, the
activity area.

All resources needed for a particular Zone were placed in a box at the
start activity. For example, for measurement activities, there were metre
sticks tape measures, string and trundle wheels.
Each box had a supply of clip boards, paper and pencils. The students
kept the clipboards for the whole trail and returned them at the end. The
resources for each zone were returned at the end of the activities for the
next group.

The younger children needed lots of helpers, and only did one zone.
Older classes managed independently.
Maths Trail

There are 4 Zones.

There are 3 or 4 activities at each area.

All resources required for the Zone will be in a box at activity 1 in each
zone.

Split the class into 4 or 5 groups.

Collect a clipboard, paper and pencil for each group. Keep the clipboards
for the whole trail, and return to the Zone you collected them from when
you are finished.

Please leave the other resources – metre sticks, tape measures, string,
stopwatch etc. in the box when you finish the zone.

Pupils can tackle any activity they feel happy with.

There will be a poster at each activity with a picture on one side and the
problems on the other.
Maths Trail Ideas.

Split playground into 4 areas, 4 activities per area.

Area 1 Gate to infant door.

Car park
Count the numbers of cars. How many tyres? What is the most popular
colour?

Measure the length of one car.

If the cars were parked lengthways, how many cars could fit the space?

Car number plate activity. Letters become numbers A=1, B=2 etc.
Numbers have there same value i.e. 0=0, 1=1. If it costs the equivalent in
pounds as the value of a letter or number to make a number plate, what is
the most expensive.
E.G would be :
MD09 STO

M=13, D=4, S=19, T=20 O=15 =71 , +9+0=£80 (x2 for back number
plate!)

Trade Waste bin

How many different numbers (digits) can you

see? Which digits (0-9) are missing? What is
the total of all the single digits? Which digit
occurs most often? Find the line of symmetry
in the letters in TRADE WASTE.

Ladder
How many lines? How many different
colours?

If all the lines were joined together how long

would the line be?
If the 2 yellow lines were joined together,
would it be longer than all the other colours
put together?
 Bin and sundial in the garden

How many spots on the bin?

How many sides on the
sundial?
Add them together.
Multiply them together.
What shapes can you see?
Roman numeral calculations

Tree measure

1. Have your partner stand at the base of the

tree.
2. Back away from the tree, holding your ruler
in front of you in a vertical position. Keep your
arm straight. Stop when the tree and the ruler
appear to be the same size. (Close one eye to
help you line it up.)
3. Turn your wrist so that the ruler looks level
to the ground and is in a horizontal position.
Keep your arm straight.
4. Have your partner walk to the spot that you see as the top of the
ruler. Be sure the base of the ruler is kept at the base of the tree.
5. Measure how many feet he or she walked. That is the tree's height.
Round to the nearest foot and record your answer as the height.
Area 2 front playground.
Length of Playground
Measure from wall of Janitors house to gate at far end. – foot lengths or
using metre stick, trundle wheel, string etc. How many times would you
need to walk back and forth to walk 1 km?

Bike racks
How many bike racks? How many bikes? How many scooters? Total
number of wheels?

Find a bike with gears on both sides. Multiply

numbers on each side to make total number of gears. Which bike has
biggest range.

Measure bike rack length, include struts. If all the racks were straight
and put end to end, how long in total. If it costs £30 per metre for
metal, how much do the bike racks cost?

Trees
How many trees? Measure tree circumferences. Which is biggest?

Bench
How many people can sit on the bench? How many benches for all the
class to have a seat? For all then staff? For the whole school?

Drain cover
What shape is it? How many small squares? Estimate
number of lines. How many lines in each small square?
How many lines in total?( Get number without
counting every one) Is real total close to your estimate?
 Area 3 Playground from gate to climbing wall

Basketball board
What shapes can you see? How high is it from the ground?

In basketball, you can score 3,2 or 1 points

depending on where the basketball is thrown.
Shots from behind the freethrow line are 1 point
each.
Shots from inside the arc are 2 points each,
Shots scored outside the arc are 3 points each.
If one team scores 30 points how many different ways could they have
scored? Eg. 3 free throws = 3 x 1= 3
6 inside arc = 6 x 2 = 12
5 inside arc = 5 x 3 = 15
How else could they have scored 30 points?

Face
What shapes make up the picture? How many different
colours? How many ways can you make the picture
using 3 colours.
E.g white background, yellow face, black eyes
White background, black face, yellow eyes etc.
What if the mouth was red, how many different ways?
Write a formula for how many ways you can make a face if you
had 5,6 or 7 different colours.

Climbing wall
How many panels are there on the wall?
How many holes in each panel?
How many panels altogether
How many wall pegs?
How many different colours?
How many, red pegs, yellow pegs, green pegs?
What do you notice about the shapes of the different
coloured pegs?
What percentage of the holes have pegs in them?
Time 1 person crossing the wall, if everyone in your class takes the same
time, how long for the whole class to get across?
Picnic table
How many pieces of wood make up
the table?
How long is the table?
How many tables do we need for all
your class to sit down?
A bench costs £200, how much
would the school need to spend to have enough for your class?

Playground
Pace out the length from the face to the gate. How many steps?
If your class hold hands, will they reach from the face to the gate? Try it.

Line up with the tallest person at the back of the line. Get the tallest
person to stand next to the smallest, then the next tallest to the next
smallest, etc. Are any 2 people the same size? Who is in the middle?
Use the “My Measurements” book to order class in different ways. Does
the tallest person have the longest feet or hand span?
Make a graph using different measurements.
Area 4 Venture Trail
Logs
Count the number of logs.
How many different sizes are there?
What 2d and 3d shapes can you see?
Measure the height of the logs.
If they were stacked on top of each other, how high
would it reach?
How many needs to be stacked to be higher than you?

Bridges

How many pieces of wood on the jungle bridge?

How many pieces of wood on chain bridge?
Which has more pieces?
How long is each piece of chain on the jungle bridge?
How long is each piece of chain on the chain bridge?
Add all the chain lengths together.
It costs £2 per metre for chain. How much would it cost to replace all the
chain on both bridges?

Chess board
What shapes can you see?
How many white squares?
How many black squares?
Can you see any other shapes?
How many other shapes can you see?
What is the perimeter? What is the area?
If you put 1p on the first square, 2p on the second, 4p on the third, 8p on
the 4th and keep doubling the amount, how much will be on the last
square?
Plant frame
How many squares are there?
How tall is the frame? How can you work out how tall
it is by measuring only 1 square?
If a plant grows 50 cms a day, how long before it
reaches the top?
Extras
Windows: How many in the school?
Find out the cost of glass and how much to replace a
broken window.
Find out the cost of cleaning, and estimate the area of
glass in the whole school.

Water butt: Work out the capacity.

Waste Paper: Capacity of bins.

Trees: How many in school. Measure circumference and height. Estimate

number of leaves.

Garden: shapes and colours. Estimate number of stones in pattern.

Ages: How old is the school?

How old was it when you were born?
How many days have you lived? Hours, minutes?
What month were most people in your class, or whole school, born in?
What is the most/least popular month?

Area of the playground, perimeter of playground. If everyone joined

hands, could we stretch around the school?

Find out if there are more boys than girls in the school.

Time:
Use this sign to work out how many
hours and minutes the playground is open
for vehicles.