A Coin and Two Dice
This game could have been called “250 or Bust!” because 250 is the target.
Free maths activities for home and school
Welcome to your life of maths fun!
Because maths is an adventure, not a worksheet. Games, puzzles and investigations you can do anywhere: at the kitchen table, on the bus, in the garden.
✔ Free access, always ✔ No registration ✔ No login
Start with your child’s year group
Popular activities
See more →
Famous Fractions
This is a fun way to help children focus on the nature of fractions
£1 Challenge
Out shopping with just £1 to spend? Find three things that together cost less than £1, then work out the change.
Food Weights
This activity involves reading weight information on food packets and tins.
Dividing Numbers
This is an interesting number game that focuses on division
No Guessing Allowed
Number riddles where every clue narrows down the mystery number, so no guessing is allowed.
I-Spy Shapes
This is a fun activity that helps children recognize different shapes and understand shape words
Would You Rather
This is a different way to play the 'Would You Rather…' game
The Magnificent Seven Card Game
This is a simple card game that helps with understanding '7'
The 'L' Number Puzzle
Here a number puzzle that can be made as easy or as difficult as you wish.
Counting Cards
This is a fun activity that helps with counting and number recognition
Domino Sum Challenge
Add up the dots on each domino in a line, write the totals down, then rebuild the line from the sums alone.
Mystery Number Puzzles
Five number puzzles, each with a set of clues to a mystery number.
Paper Aeroplane Challenge
This is a fun activity involving making and flying paper aeroplanes
Number Order with Cards
This quick activity helps children think about the order of numbers 1 to 10.
Domino Number Challenge
Read a line of dominoes as numbers, write them down, then mix them up and put them back in order.
Draw a Magic Egg Tangram
Use a ruler and compasses to draw and cut out an egg-shaped tangram, then arrange the pieces into birds.
Colouring Flags
This activity is designed to get children thinking permutations, how many different ways things can be arranged.
UK Coins and Counting
How many different coins do we use in Britain? Count, add and find the fewest coins needed to make an amount.
Fractions of Things
Share 12 everyday items into groups to find a half and a quarter, and see why some fractions will not work.
Adding With Snakes and Ladders
This is an easy change you can make to most board games to include a little more addition.
I-Spy a Number
A spotting game for walks and car journeys: score points for each number you spot, depending on its multiples.
Order of Operations
This is a very useful way to explore how calculations are affected by the order of operations.
A Handful of Facts
Give your child one number fact and they hand you four related facts back, counting them off on their fingers.
The Answer is 10…
The answer is 10, but what was the question? Children invent as many calculations as they can that make 10.
The Buzz Game
This is an entertaining way to practice times tables facts
Sudoku Puzzles
Sudoku builds logic and reasoning. Tips for choosing the right level of challenge, plus links to free puzzles.
Domino Lines
Lay dominoes in a zig-zag line so that the dots add up to 10, then keep the pattern going.
£1 Shopping Challenge
With £1 to spend, find one item, then two items, that cost less than a pound and work out the change.
Number Line Tape Measure
Use a tape measure as a number line to count on, count back, and answer "one more" and "two less" questions.
Pocket Money Budget
Plan a pocket-money budget across a few categories and work out how long it would take to save up for something.
Number Pick Up
A dice game based on Shut the Box: roll two dice and remove counters worth the total. First to empty their board wins.
Add to 12
A quick napkin activity for a café or waiting room: pick three numbers from 1 to 9 that add to 12, then find more ways.
Two Dominoes
A quick adding game for two: turn over two dominoes each, add up the dots and shout the total to score points.
Are We There Yet
A road-sign game for long car journeys: use the miles left to your destination and the milometer to work out where you will be.
Domino Battle
A fast two-player game where each player multiplies the two ends of a domino and the higher product wins.
Card Sorting
This simple card game can be used to help with ordering numbers.
Mission down to 1
Start with 999 on a calculator and use the digits 1 to 9 once each to bring the total down as close to 1 as you can.
Simple Line Measuring
Draw some lines, estimate their lengths, then measure with a ruler and see how close the estimates were.
The Greatest Product
Roll a dice to fill in a 3-digit by 1-digit multiplication, and try to make the biggest product to win a point.
Consecutive Numbers
Multiply the smallest and largest of three consecutive numbers, then square the middle one. What do you notice, and why?
Diamonds to 10
A quick card game for bonds to 10: flip a card, then race to call out the number you need to add to make 10.
Just Counting
Count from 1 to 12 slowly, then take turns saying alternate numbers, whispering and shouting along the way.
A Coin and Two Dice (Treble or Double)
This game could have been called “250 or Bust!” because 250 is the target.
Going Shopping
In the shop, find something under £5 and work out the cost of three of them in your head, then check.
Mission to 999
Roll a dice six times to make two 3-digit numbers, then try to get their total as close to 999 as possible.
Multiple Cards
A card game for two or more players: turn over two cards, multiply them, and the higher product wins the cards.
Shopping With a Twist
Pick a long word and count its letters, then give vowels and consonants different prices to find the cost of the word.
Add ‘Em Up
A two-player dice game: pick four numbers from 2 to 12, then roll two dice and add them to cross your numbers off first.
My Secret Number
Think of a secret number from 0 to 12 and guess it by asking yes-or-no questions, then swap roles.
Shapes in the Town
This is an easy activity to do while out walking
Door Numbers
On a walk, spot the odd and even house numbers, look for patterns and guess which number comes next door.
Just Two Pages
Pick two facing pages in any book and add the page numbers. Can your child work out which pages you chose?
Cafe Maths
Waiting for food or drink? Quick activities that need hardly any equipment can turn a few spare minutes into a perfect maths moment.
How it works
- ChoosePick a year group or topic. Each activity tells you what you need up front, usually just paper, a pencil and maybe some dice, cards or dominoes.
- PlayRead it together and have a go. There are no worksheets and nothing to log in to. Talk about what you notice.
- ShareTell the teacher what you found out, with a drawing, a photo or a few words. That’s the homework done.
For parents and children
- Fun, engaging activities, with no nagging
- No worksheets, no lost homework books
- Parents can be fully involved
- Use them anywhere: home, bus, garden, car…
- This isn’t an online games site: the maths happens in real life
For schools and teachers
- Nothing to set up
- Activities matched to the curriculum
- Real opportunities for maths talk
- No homework books, nothing to mark
- Free to use
Want a game on screen too?
Try Bubble Bonds, a quick number-bonds bubble-popping game from Mathsticks, free to play in the browser.
Share your ideas
Got a favourite maths game, or a suggestion for an activity? We’d love to hear from you. Maths.life is still growing.
What’s this about?
Maths.life takes the “work” out of homework for everyone. It’s a growing collection of simple, low-prep activities from a primary teacher with over 30 years of classroom experience.