Category Archives: Maths Week Scotland

Maths Week Scotland, Outdoor Learning, Special Event

Maths Week Scotland in the Garden

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Numeracy is all around us, and for our young children at Cartmill, developing our numeracy skills can be an exciting adventure, especially when taken outside into the garden.  In Scotland, we celebrate the importance of numeracy and outdoor learning with Math Week Scotland.  Take a look at a snapshot of the activities going on this week in the Cartmill garden.

Creating Patterns

Exploring patterns using natural resources in early numeracy involves using items like shells, pebbles, or branches to create and expand patterns. This hands-on approach not only enhances understanding of early numeracy but also encourages an appreciation for the natural world. By taking part in these activities, children develop problem-solving skills, boost their creativity, and gain a deeper understanding of numeracy in the early years.  Take a look at some of the pictures below and the patterns that were created.

Measuring

Measuring with our hands and feet is a practical and fun way to introduce children to the concept of measurement. They can use their hands or feet to gauge the size and length of everyday objects.  We explored different objets in the garden which you can see in the photos below.  This interactive activity not only helps them develop an understanding of measurement but also enhances their fine motor skills and gross motor skills.

One of the children used their hands to measure two separate pieces of wood, and then combined them, exploring addition. He said “this is 11 and 4 together” and then counted out 15 with support.

Measuring using our feet  “It’s 10” showing 10 fingers.

Shape Hunt

An outdoor shape hunt is a amazing adventure where our children explored their natural surroundings to discover shapes in the world around them. Together with curiosity the children of Cartmill embarked on a quest to find circles in tree trunks, squares in windows, triangles in buidings, and countless other shapes. Take a look at the shapes we found on our shape hunt.

“It’s a big circle”

”A triangle on the leaf”

”The window has 4 rectangles and a big one”

Why not take a look at the Maths Week Scotland website to see lots of different activities you can take part in at home. Just click the link bellow.  😃
Maths Week Scotland Website

Article 28: You have the right to education

Article 31: You have the right to play

Expressive Arts, Maths Week Scotland

Kandinsky Corner – Maths week in the Studio

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It was all about maths in the Studio Room as we celebrated Maths week Scotland. Which fitted in perfectly with our learning provocation area.


We have been learning about different artists and what their famous art work is. This month it’s Kandinsky.
Kandinsky is famous for his wonderful abstract work that have various shapes in them.
We have been trying our hand at creating our version of some of his paintings, using circles.
First we used paint to create a large scale painting. We used each of our primary paint colours and using our colour mixing skills creating bright and different colours just like the one’s Kandinsky uses.  We used our shape recognition skills to create huge and tiny circles inside one another.

Next we used our scissor skills to cut circles out of felt, gum paper, foam and shiny paper. We experimented with different textures for this abstract art picture.

We used our counting skills as we counted how many circles we used for our pictures.
We also tried ink prints using ink pads and corks to print circles onto paper to create a different type of abstract art. We used our 3D shape recognition skills to learn the shape of the cork.

The children enjoyed using the provocation area themselves to recreate Kandinskys work in their own ways. They used chalks,

Using digital technology on our paint app, on the smart board,

Paint dabbers,

and our pencils.

We were very proud of the work we created.
to finish off our week of Kandinsky circles art we used different circle shaped resources to draw around. We tried records, cups, pots  and mirrors.

It was a wonderful creation.
Maths can be a big part of art and is found in each area in our art room, it could be shape recognition with the different sizes of boxes in the junk model area. Counting how many pumps of the paint  we need to mix colours. Making patterns with the collage materials or clay and many more opportunities to learn our Maths skills with the joy of Art.
I wonder what artist we will learn about next?
Here is a wee look at some of our other maths experiences we have took part in through the week within our Studio Room. That have challenged and develop our children from 2-5 year olds with their maths skills.

Maths Week Scotland, Special Event

The Beauty of Maths

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In our Home Room this week we have been celebrating Maths Week  Scotland. We have been using the different learning areas In our Home Room to explore this years‘ Maths Week Scotland theme of  ‘finding the beauty in maths’, learning how we use maths in all different ways.

In our Baking and Sewing Areas….
As part of Maths Week have been exploring pattern through making some yummy fruit kebabs! We talked about the different colours, shapes and sizes of the fruit and then used our favourites to create a fruity pattern.

Some of the children were able to copy and continue a simple pattern using their favourite two fruits.

‘I like grapes”
“Ben do it.”

Some children were able to create their own more complex patterns with three different kinds of their favourite fruit.

“I am doing the same again.”
“I need the banana again.”

In our sewing area we made patterns threading our different coloured beads, and sewing patterns onto the leaves we collected. We had to concentrate hard as it was very tricky!

“In and out.”
“I’m doing colours.”

In our Playdough Area…

In our playdough area we have been learning how to make our playdough more independently. We have been using measuring, pouring and filling skills to correctly follow the recipe . We decided to record our recipe and display it  to help our friends make their own.

“I scoop of salt.”

In our Home Corner………
Stories are a great way to engage children in mathematical conversations. Stories help children to see the relevance of maths to their own lives and develop their understanding of mathematical concepts and language in meaningful contexts.

We explored the story of Simon the Sock. Simon is an odd stripey sock. He lives in the sock drawer with all the other socks. Every sock in the drawer has a pair…except for Simon. Will he ever find his match?

Through exploring the story the children were able to use and develop mathematical skills such as sorting, matching, reasoning and comparing. We loved looking through Simon’s sock drawer. We used our matchIng skills to help Simon  find all the matching pairs!

We then used our observation skills to look at the different patterns. We described all the patterns we could see, spots, stripes, stars and some of us even spotted that we had patterns on our own socks on our feet!   Simon the sock challenged us to use our sorting skills to each decide a different way we could sort our socks. We even used our mark making skills to record how we were going to sort them each time!

When we had completed our challenge we matched all the socks together again in their pairs, well all apart from Simon!
We wonder if any of you have an odd socks like Simon in your home?!