A Tiny Treasure Hunt is a great way to explore the Numeracy and Mathematics of everyday objects and develop young children’s mathematical vocabulary.
For teachers, this activity can be used to help deliver Es and Os in the CfE MNU curriculum at Early Level in Number, Money and Measure.
You will need:
a small lidded container (see suggestions on video)
an outdoor (or indoor) space
What you do:
The aim is collect as many tiny objects as you can but make sure that you can fit all of them into your ‘treasure chest’ at the same time!
- Collect tiny objects to fit in the treasure chest. The objects must be lying on the ground and not something that is growing or living. Objects must be safe to pick up and not sharp or jaggy.
- Place your treasure, one object at a time, into the treasure chest.
- Either set a time limit for the treasure hunt or keep collecting until the chest is full.
- Find a clear space to set out your treasure and count out the objects.
- Ask and answer questions as you look at the finds
- How many pieces of treasure did you collect?
- Which is the longest/shortest?
- Are any of the pieces the same length as your thumb nail?
- Which is the thinnest/thickest?
- Can we lay them out in size order so that the biggest is on the left and the smallest on the right?
- Which is heaviest/lightest?
- Are there any matching pairs?
Return your pieces of treasure to the places you found them.
This activity can be repeated many times and the conversations will always be a little different!
