Maths activities can help children engage with their education. With fun and suitably challenging worksheets and activities, children become excited to learn. So we’ve put together this article to help you find the best maths resources for children.

There was a time when learning was a monotonous and dull experience — an era when cold, hard facts were taught in a cold, hard way. But luckily for children in education today, we now know they learn best when they’re having fun. 

One of the best ways to make learning fun is with educational activities. These can come in the form of games, worksheets, interactive videos and presentations. Activities can help children engage with lessons and improve learning retention. 

But not all activities are created equal.

When it comes to maths activities for children, some go above and beyond others. So, how do you make sure children are learning with the right resources?

Maths Activities for Children Must Be Engaging

One thing every parent, carer and teacher knows is children get bored easily. It can be a struggle to keep children interested in their studies with traditional methods of learning, such as textbooks and PowerPoint presentations. And if activities aren’t interesting or fun, children won’t engage with these methods of learning either. So the key is to find maths resources that can hold children’s attention and keep them engaged and excited to learn more. 

Using engaging activities to help children’s education means they can benefit from a more laid-back and enjoyable learning experience. High levels of engagement can also open up deeper opportunities for learning — not only will children learn the facts and skills needed to succeed in school, but they’re also more likely to be able to apply knowledge to real-life situations. 

It’s worth noting, though, that engaging means different things for different age groups. For example, our Year 2 maths resources contain lots of visual elements such as bright colours and fun images, because younger children enjoy attractive, quirky visuals. Our maths resources for children in Year 6 still contain visual elements, but you’ll also find more discourse, and more complex designs, tables and challenges. This is because older pupils are more likely to seek out more complex experiences — potentially with sleeker designs and narrative flows. 

One of the best ways to see if activities are engaging enough is to let children try them out. If they engage with challenges, you’re on to a winner. But if they get bored after a few minutes, it’s not the right game for them. 

Maths Activities Should Provide a Suitable Challenge

While worksheets and activities need to be fun and engaging, their enjoyable aspects shouldn’t be detrimental to actual learning. Maths challenges for children need to have an educational benefit. 

So when looking for maths resources for children, check that they offer a suitable challenge. Puzzles, problems and equations should be targeted at specific age groups and should help solidify, as well as improve, mathematical knowledge. Making sure activities offer the right level of difficulty can also help you capture children’s attention. Children usually welcome a challenge — after all, what fun is an activity that’s too easy? 

Match Learning Styles to Different Types of Maths Resources

Not all children have the same learning style, so it’s important to consider the different types of learners when choosing maths activities for a group of children. 

Interactive maths videos can be perfect for engaging auditory and visual learners. Many maths videos will contain challenging games and songs that can help children remember lessons. Computer games are also a good choice for visual, auditory and kinesthetic learners. 

However, children who learn best when reading and writing might prefer challenges in the form of worksheets. Worksheets can also be suitable for visual learners if they include lots of visual elements. 

Make Sure Activities Are Easy to Understand

It’s one thing to make sure educational resources challenge children — it’s another to have them pulling their hair out over impossible instructions. Nothing detracts from learning more than frustration. 

If a child can’t understand how they are supposed to complete activities, they’ll struggle to learn anything from the experience. Challenging maths problems are an important part of learning, but the challenge shouldn’t occur because children don’t know what to do. The challenge should arise because it tests children’s mathematical knowledge. 

Make sure any maths activities your children use as a learning tool are easy to understand and they’ll be rewarded with a richer and more enjoyable experience. 

If you’re looking for maths activities for children that are challenging and engaging, join Master the Curriculum and gain access to fun maths resources designed by teachers, for teachers. With counting games, maths worksheets, teaching slides and interactive videos, our resources can help children master a range of mathematical subjects, from number and place value to multiplication, algebra and geometry.