I wrote and co-wrote these resources for teaching literacy, numeracy, thinking skills/P4C and Outdoor Learning ideas. I own Thinking Child and we used to publish beautiful 'hard copy' resources for schools. These are a selection of those - some are free - some now sold at a bargain price - to make them as accessible as possible to teachers and children.
I wrote and co-wrote these resources for teaching literacy, numeracy, thinking skills/P4C and Outdoor Learning ideas. I own Thinking Child and we used to publish beautiful 'hard copy' resources for schools. These are a selection of those - some are free - some now sold at a bargain price - to make them as accessible as possible to teachers and children.
All the ideas in this pack are written to make maths relevant and purposeful with many direct links to real-life situations. They have been found to be particularly useful for children who sometimes struggle with classroom based maths, offering a fresh dimension through this active engagement with learning.
The activities are intended for teachers to incorporate into medium and short term planning cycles and will no doubt be added to over time.
They are not just a means to just take ‘indoor learning outdoors’ but to enhance ways of delivering the maths curriculum as a whole. Any large space is suitable for many of these sessions, if weather is ever a real issue.
The pack caters for KS1 and KS2 and is linked directly to the primary maths curriculum but, as the developmental stages of real children don’t always neatly match these, it might be necessary to use professional judgement: to change, adapt and experiment with the ideas to fit your own context.
This activity comes from a book from Thinking Child :
Over 100 Ideas for Outdoor Numeracy.– a mixture for Key Stage 1 and 2 – and many opportunities for differentiation.
All the ideas from this pack are written to make maths relevant and purposeful with many direct links to real-life situations. They have been found to be particularly useful for children who sometimes struggle with classroom-based maths, offering a fresh dimension through this active engagement with learning.
In the full book – should you go on to purchase it from the Thinking Child shop provides an overview of the activities and they are alphabetically ordered and cross referenced to the specific areas of the curriculum, giving a quick overview of content and coverage.
In this way you will be able to achieve a balance over time and more easily slot them into your planning as a whole.
Enjoy this activity – maybe choose from other separate activities – or think about buying the whole book for your school? It is better value. https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/resource-12529587
This activity, “Squash” comes from a book from Thinking Child :
Over 100 Ideas for Outdoor Numeracy.– a mixture for Key Stage 1 and 2 – and many opportunities for differentiation.
All the ideas from this pack are written to make maths relevant and purposeful with many direct links to real-life situations. They have been found to be particularly useful for children who sometimes struggle with classroom-based maths, offering a fresh dimension through this active engagement with learning.
In the full book – should you go on to purchase it from the Thinking Child shop provides an overview of the activities and they are alphabetically ordered and cross referenced to the specific areas of the curriculum, giving a quick overview of content and coverage.
In this way you will be able to achieve a balance over time and more easily slot them into your planning as a whole.
Enjoy this activity – maybe choose from other separate activities – or think about buying the whole book for your school? It is better value: https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/resource-12529587
This activity, “Logistics” comes from a book from Thinking Child :
Over 100 Ideas for Outdoor Numeracy.– a mixture for Key Stage 1 and 2 – and many opportunities for differentiation.
All the ideas from this pack are written to make maths relevant and purposeful with many direct links to real-life situations. They have been found to be particularly useful for children who sometimes struggle with classroom-based maths, offering a fresh dimension through this active engagement with learning.
In the full book – should you go on to purchase it from the Thinking Child shop provides an overview of the activities and they are alphabetically ordered and cross referenced to the specific areas of the curriculum, giving a quick overview of content and coverage.
In this way you will be able to achieve a balance over time and more easily slot them into your planning as a whole.
Enjoy this activity – maybe choose from other separate activities – or think about buying the whole book for your school? It is better value: https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/resource-12529587
This activity, “Pi” comes from a book from Thinking Child :
Over 100 Ideas for Outdoor Numeracy.– a mixture for Key Stage 1 and 2 – and many opportunities for differentiation.
All the ideas from this pack are written to make maths relevant and purposeful with many direct links to real-life situations. They have been found to be particularly useful for children who sometimes struggle with classroom-based maths, offering a fresh dimension through this active engagement with learning.
In the full book – should you go on to purchase it from the Thinking Child shop provides an overview of the activities and they are alphabetically ordered and cross referenced to the specific areas of the curriculum, giving a quick overview of content and coverage.
In this way you will be able to achieve a balance over time and more easily slot them into your planning as a whole.
Enjoy this activity – maybe choose from other separate activities – or think about buying the whole book for your school? It is better value: https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/resource-12529587
This is one activity sheet from a HUGE Grammar Pack that was formally sold by Thinking Child as a hard copy resource to schools .
The full pack has 105 different ideas for teaching grammar in interesting and active ways.
It’s a Case of Grammar is for sale in the Thinking Child shop
More of the individual cards - are also in the shop - some free, some for just one pound each.
Choose those you need - or buy the whole pack for your school.
Lesson idea to deliver English / Literacy outdoors - “Join the Dots”
An outdoor session to have thinking warm ups and talk Before Writing. Minimal resources in an outdoor setting which children love.
This comes from a huge pack of ideas " Over 100 Ideas for Outdoor Literacy" which was once a hard copy pack bought by schools.
The full pack is available in the Thinking Child shop but also all the lessons are separately available for a wide range of literacy objectives.
Suitable for Key Stage 1 and 2 but also often very adaptable and extension suggestions. Available in the Thinking Child shop https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/resource-12501091
A lesson to support children to plan and produce more coherent and longer pieces of writing.
This is one activity sheet from a HUGE Grammar Pack that was formally sold by Thinking Child as a hard copy resource to schools .
The full pack has 105 different ideas for teaching grammar in interesting and active ways.
Aimed at Key Stage 2
It’s a Case of Grammar is for sale in the Thinking Child shop https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/-12529601
This activity, “Venn Diagrams” comes from a book from Thinking Child :
Over 100 Ideas for Outdoor Numeracy.– a mixture for Key Stage 1 and 2 – and many opportunities for differentiation.
All the ideas from this pack are written to make maths relevant and purposeful with many direct links to real-life situations. They have been found to be particularly useful for children who sometimes struggle with classroom-based maths, offering a fresh dimension through this active engagement with learning.
In the full book – should you go on to purchase it from the Thinking Child shop provides an overview of the activities and they are alphabetically ordered and cross referenced to the specific areas of the curriculum, giving a quick overview of content and coverage.
In this way you will be able to achieve a balance over time and more easily slot them into your planning as a whole.
Enjoy this activity – maybe choose from other separate activities – or think about buying the whole book for your school? It is better value: https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/resource-12529587
Lesson idea to deliver English / Literacy outdoors - “Playground Board Games”
An outdoor session to develop a playful approach to instructional texts. Minimal resources in an outdoor setting which children love.
This comes from a huge pack of ideas " Over 100 Ideas for Outdoor Literacy" which was once a hard copy pack bought by schools.
The full pack is available in the Thinking Child shop but also all the lessons are separately available for a wide range of literacy objectives.
Suitable for Key Stage 1 and 2 but also often very adaptable and extension suggestions. Available in the Thinking Child shop https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/resource-12501091
Lesson idea to deliver English / Literacy outdoors - “Pass the Paragraph”
An outdoor session to develop text structure / organization, using a range of connectives for cohesion. Minimal resources in an outdoor setting which children love.
This comes from a huge pack of ideas " Over 100 Ideas for Outdoor Literacy" which was once a hard copy pack bought by schools.
The full pack is available in the Thinking Child shop but also all the lessons are separately available for a wide range of literacy objectives.
Suitable for Key Stage 1 and 2 but also often very adaptable and extension suggestions. Available in the Thinking Child shop https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/resource-12501091
An active grammar lesson dealing with conjunctions and connectives - playing with language
This is one activity sheet from a HUGE Grammar Pack that was formally sold by Thinking Child as a hard copy resource to schools .
The full pack has 105 different ideas for teaching grammar in interesting and active ways.
Aimed at Key Stage 2
It’s a Case of Grammar is for sale in the Thinking Child shop
https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/-12529601
This activity, “Twins” comes from a book from Thinking Child :
Over 100 Ideas for Outdoor Numeracy.– a mixture for Key Stage 1 and 2 – and many opportunities for differentiation.
All the ideas from this pack are written to make maths relevant and purposeful with many direct links to real-life situations. They have been found to be particularly useful for children who sometimes struggle with classroom-based maths, offering a fresh dimension through this active engagement with learning.
In the full book – should you go on to purchase it from the Thinking Child shop provides an overview of the activities and they are alphabetically ordered and cross referenced to the specific areas of the curriculum, giving a quick overview of content and coverage.
In this way you will be able to achieve a balance over time and more easily slot them into your planning as a whole.
Enjoy this activity – maybe choose from other separate activities – or think about buying the whole book for your school? It is better value: https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/resource-12529587
This is a set of 23 cards with a wide variety of ideas , games and strategies for children to learn their spellings.
Great for using in class as an independent group task, more focused with a TA or other adult - and easily then sent home for active homework.
Uses physical, visual, auditory strategies - something for every child to help them be a more successful speller.
This activity is called 'When there’s more than one" and uses a team game format to reinforce the different endings for plural nouns.
This is one activity sheet from a HUGE Grammar Pack that was formally sold by Thinking Child as a hard copy resource to schools .
The full pack has 105 different ideas for teaching grammar in interesting and active ways.
Aimed at Key Stage 2
It’s a Case of Grammar is for sale in the Thinking Child shop https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/-12529601
This activity, “What’s the time, Mr Wolf?” comes from a book from Thinking Child :
Over 100 Ideas for Outdoor Numeracy.– a mixture for Key Stage 1 and 2 – and many opportunities for differentiation.
All the ideas from this pack are written to make maths relevant and purposeful with many direct links to real-life situations. They have been found to be particularly useful for children who sometimes struggle with classroom-based maths, offering a fresh dimension through this active engagement with learning.
In the full book – should you go on to purchase it from the Thinking Child shop provides an overview of the activities and they are alphabetically ordered and cross referenced to the specific areas of the curriculum, giving a quick overview of content and coverage.
In this way you will be able to achieve a balance over time and more easily slot them into your planning as a whole.
Enjoy this activity – maybe choose from other separate activities – or think about buying the whole book for your school? It is better value: https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/resource-12529587
Lesson idea to deliver English / Literacy outdoors - “Asking me or Telling me?”
An outdoor session to reinforce the differences between questions, statements and commands. Minimal resources in an outdoor setting which children love.
This comes from a huge pack of ideas " Over 100 Ideas for Outdoor Literacy" which was once a hard copy pack bought by schools.
The full pack is available in the Thinking Child shop but also all the lessons are separately available for a wide range of literacy objectives.
Suitable for Key Stage 1 and 2 but also often very adaptable and extension suggestions… Available in the Thinking Child shop https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/resource-12501091
A set of Starters for Thinking - useful in P4C / Speaking and Listening sessions
This is pack 1 - there is another one available in my shop as well.
So many ways to use these.
No wrong answers!!
This booklet is to provide ideas for all teachers in Key Stages 1 & 2 to take their children outside to do a maths trail.
THe first few pages have 20 generic ideas, covering a range of mathematical concepts and difficulties.
The 2nd section has an Outdoor Maths Trail page per year group - (Year 1 - Year 6) .
They are all adaptable to your school context and your children.
A great starting point to get more children doing maths outdoors.
There are many more Outdoor Numeracy Lesson ideas and resources in the Thinking Child shop.
Lesson idea to deliver English / Literacy outdoors - “Facts and Opinions”
An outdoor session to support children to make logical inferences. Minimal resources in an outdoor setting which children love.
This comes from a huge pack of ideas " Over 100 Ideas for Outdoor Literacy" which was once a hard copy pack bought by schools.
The full pack is available in the Thinking Child shop but also all the lessons are separately available for a wide range of literacy objectives.
Suitable for Key Stage 1 and 2 but also often very adaptable and extension suggestions. Available in the Thinking Child shop https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/resource-12501091
