ks1 group problem solving

Resources you can trust

• Show all (57)
• (-) Primary (52)

Subject categories

• All subject categories (141)
• (-) Problem solving (52)
• All number resources (3)
• Geometry (3)
• 2-D shapes (2)
• Calculation (2)
• Fractions (2)
• Measurement (2)
• Algebra (1)
• BIDMAS (Order of operations) (1)
• Christmas (1)
• Festivals and celebrations (1)
• Fractions, decimals and percentages (1)
• Multiplication and division (1)
• Percentages (1)
• Ratio and proportion (1)
• Statistics (1)
• Straight line graphs (1)
• Topical and seasonal (1)
• (-) All key stages (16)

Resource type

• Worksheet (31)
• Student activity (28)
• Differentiated (7)
• Starter/Plenary (6)
• Game/quiz (4)
• Homework (3)
• Complete lesson (2)
• Teaching pack (2)
• Assessment (1)
• Revision (1)
• Self-assessment (1)
• Teaching ideas (1)

Problem solving

Resources to teach problem solving skills

This collection of teaching resources aims to help children develop maths problem solving skills. It features word problems, maths challenges, problem-solving questions and a variety of worksheets and problem solving activities to help your primary school learners develop the problem solving strategies for real life contexts.

Why teach problem solving skills?

Problem solving is a skill that involves a variety of mathematical skills that will help children in real life. From addition and subtraction to fractions, decimals and percentages, we need problem-solving strategies to solve day-to-day problems involving time, money and measurement. Problem solving is an integral strand of the KS2 maths curriculum and children will be tested on their problem-solving skills in their SATs and onwards.

Have you seen our teaching packs for problem solving in maths?

If you’re teaching upper key stage 2, you may like our problem-solving teaching packs: Problem solving - number and Problem solving – measurement, geometry and statistics . Both packs comprise scaffolded word problems and differentiated activities based upon the relevant problem-solving objectives in the national curriculum. Or you may prefer Challenging maths , packed with maths mastery style questions, word problems and games to enrich your maths lessons and turn your year 5/6 class into true problem solvers!

Search results

Teacher-Trusted Tutoring

Personalised one to one tutoring that boosts confidence and doubles progress

FREE daily maths challenges

A new KS2 maths challenge every day. Perfect as lesson starters - no prep required!

Fun Maths Activities and Investigations for KS1 and KS2 in Primary School

Anantha Anilkumar

Over the years, we’ve created lots of different fun maths activities and investigations to add to primary teachers’ toolboxes. Some of these maths activities mirror our online one to one maths tutoring programme, while others are more suitable for whole class teaching. We share here as part of our continual support for KS1 and KS2 teachers working in UK classrooms.

The purpose of these numeracy activities, especially the event-based ones, is three-fold:

1. To support you, the teacher, with problem solving and reasoning questions (with answers) and save you writing your own. 

2. To give learners the opportunity to see more everyday maths in context, and experiences of how maths reasoning really matters in the real world. 3. To add some variety and relevance to the maths lesson slides, questions and worksheets you may be doing with your class every day. We love what the White Rose maths hub resources provide in terms of weekly planning, but sometimes we may be looking for some more exciting, hands-on and fun maths activities, whether for Year 1 or Year 6.

Topical Maths Activities For The Term

Maths investigations linked to key calendar dates this term, designed to develop reasoning and problem solving in your pupils

Some of you may question the place that fun has in a child’s education , and whether fun maths lessons will achieve the long term goal of retention and retrieval. While we’ve all had a class which requires an upbeat tempo of fun games as part of their learning process, many children will experience cognitive overload if important new maths concepts are introduced through a game. You will know your pupils best in this context. 

The majority of maths activities and investigations shared below use a fun concept or relevant idea to develop children’s number sense, fluency, reasoning and problem solving skills in the pursuit of learning maths.

Follow the links below to find out more about the kind of maths activities and maths investigations we’ve got available to you.

Fun maths activities KS2 (with some KS1 in there too)

Fun outdoor maths activities 13 flexible and fun activities to do outside, many of which can be adapted for early years to Year 6; most of these involve some kind of physical activity and fine motor skill development, as well as treasure hunts for angles, ways to incorporate data handling, graphs and measurement into the school fair, and using mathematical skills to make mathematical connections to nature. 

Fun back to school maths activities teaching ideas to help you get back in the groove of maths lessons after a long summer break. These are summer maths activities the whole class can get involved in, some practising quick mental maths skills, others involving more complex reasoning, plus the odd card game maths activity as well.  

Fun end of term maths activities : We all know that by the end of the summer term the atmosphere in class tends to get a bit overexcitable. Here are some ideas to harness that excitement into some fun and lively maths investigations that recap children’s knowledge from across their year’s work from 2d shapes to averages and algebra.

Fun maths games for kids at home : This might almost be our favourite collection – one to hand out to parents for homework and homeschool; it includes home-made board games, fun ways to practise times tables and lost of fun games that help children with their maths skills and require only a pencil, a piece of paper and a pack of playing cards to get going. Essential for anyone undertaking any kind of home learning with their children. 

We’ve also now extended our maths games collections to include KS1 maths games , KS2 maths games , and even KS3 maths games .

Fun maths lessons for KS2 : a collection of our favourite fun maths lessons, suitable for Year 3 to Year 6 (ideal for after SATs) which include human bar charts, sharing 3D shapes, and planning the teacher’s next holiday! 

Fun maths starters KS2 : 15 of the best maths starters to help you introduce a new topic, consolidate previous work, or just to use as part of a maths meeting with your class, improving their mental maths – includes a printable version to use in school. 

Fun SATs revision games : Even 11-year-olds need a break sometimes, so we asked some fantastic teachers on Twitter what their favourite top tips for keeping SATs revision fun were, and here’s your answer – loads of great ideas in here for anyone teaching Year 6 .  Fun maths club activities : Provided you’re armed with some creative, open ended, and ideally practical maths club activities to give children, maths clubs are not nearly as hard to set up and run as you might first imagine. The benefits are manifold; this article has all you need to get started including several really fun group games specially designed for primary school maths clubs.

Fun maths investigations for topical events

KS2 maths investigations : For many years now, Third Space has been creating maths investigations for Year 6. We’ve now adapted them to be suitable across KS2. In the main, these tend to be open ended maths investigations, focused around key events in the primary school calendar. Some of these are also slightly shorter activities but they all require pupils to do extensive problem solving and reasoning based around events in everyday life. Here are some favourite KS2 maths problems solving investigations from each term:

Here’s our complete list of topical maths investigations for year 5 and year 6.

Autumn Term maths investigations year 6 and year 5

• Autumn maths activities
• Halloween maths activities
• Bonfire Night maths activities
• Christmas maths activities and Christmas maths quiz

Spring Term maths investigations year 6 and year 5

• Heart Month Months activities
• Shrove Tuesday Maths activities
• Pancake Day Maths activities
• World Book Day Maths activities
• International Women’s Day Maths activities
• British Science Week Maths activities
• Holi Maths activities
• Easter/Lent Maths activities

Summer term maths investigations year 6 and year 5

• Share-a-Story Month activities
• FA Cup Maths activities
• Walk to School Week activities
• Ramadan Maths activities
• Child Safety Week activities

And if that’s not enough we’ve even got  maths activities  for Year 5 and Year 6 for events you’re likely to celebrate in primary school but don’t come round every year… 

• Red Nose Day Maths activities
• World Cup Maths activities
• Election Maths
• Jubilee Maths activities

Mixed ability maths investigations

We know most of you now teach mixed ability maths classes so something we’re often asked for is year 6 maths activities with a low threshold high ceiling . Take a look at these open ended maths investigations for Year 6 and the rest of Key Stage 2. You’ll also be able to download one of our favourite free teaching resources – 8 low threshold high ceiling activities including the famous fox chicken grain puzzle. 

We’ve also collected the best KS2 maths challenges here for any of your pupils who are working at greater depth in KS2 maths and need further extension in your maths lessons.

Holiday maths activities

We all know about the summer brain drain and how easily children forget what we’ve taught them but it can be difficult to know what to do about it. These summer holiday maths activities were created with parents in mind, you can also use these KS1 and KS2 holiday maths activities to give your pupils lots of fun maths challenges to do over the holidays. 

• Year 3 holiday homework: Don’t Forget Your Maths Pack Year 2 to Year 3
• Year 4 holiday homework: Don’t Forget Your Maths Pack Year 3 to Year 4
• Year 5 holiday homework: Don’t Forget Your Maths Pack Year 4  to Year 5
• Year 6 holiday homework: Don’t Forget Your Maths Pack Year 5 to Year 6

National curriculum maths activities for KS1 and KS2

The final way we’ve organised our KS2 maths activities for you is by national curriculum topic. We’ll continue to add to this section so bookmark this page and check back if it’s useful. Get started:

• 35 times tables games
• KS1 and KS2 place value games and activities  
• 3 minute number facts activity  

DO YOU HAVE PUPILS WHO NEED MORE SUPPORT IN MATHS?

Every week Third Space Learning’s maths specialist tutors support thousands of students across hundreds of schools with weekly primary school tuition designed to plug gaps and boost progress.

Since 2013 these personalised one to one lessons have helped over 150,000 primary and secondary students become more confident, able mathematicians.

Learn about the emphasis on building a positive maths mindset or request a personalised quote for your school to speak to us about your school’s needs and how we can help.

Related articles

The Best Free Multiplication Games To Play At KS1 & KS2 For Classroom Engagement

9 Coronation Maths Activities For Schools: Coronation Fun For KS1 and KS2 

18 Brilliant Mental Maths Games To Build Number Fluency, Speed And Stamina In KS1 & KS2 

The 24 Best Free KS3 Maths Games For Engagement At School and Home

FREE 12 Maths Club Activities for Primary Schools (Years 1 to 6)

A collection of games and activities to make maths enjoyable in a primary school maths club!

Minimal resources are needed for each activity.

Privacy Overview

• STEM Ambassadors
• School trusts
• ITE and governors
• Invest in schools
• STEM careers inspiration
• Benefits and impact
• Our supporters
• Become a STEM Ambassador
• Request a STEM Ambassador
• Employer information
• Training and support
• STEM Ambassadors Partners
• Working with community groups
• Search icon
• Join the STEM Community

Problem Solving

 A selection of resources containing a wide range of open-ended tasks, practical tasks, investigations and real life problems, to support investigative work and problem solving in primary mathematics.

Problem Solving in Primary Maths - the Session

Quality Assured Category: Mathematics Publisher: Teachers TV

In this programme shows a group of four upper Key Stage Two children working on a challenging problem; looking at the interior and exterior angles of polygons and how they relate to the number of sides. The problem requires the children to listen to each other and to work together co-operatively. The two boys and two girls are closely observed as they consider how to tackle the problem, make mistakes, get stuck and arrive at the "eureka" moment. They organise the data they collect and are then able to spot patterns and relate them to the original problem to find a formula to work out the exterior angle of any polygon. At the end of the session the children report back to Mark, explaining how they arrived at the solution, an important part of the problem solving process.

In a  second video  two maths experts discuss some of the challenges of teaching problem solving. This includes how and at what stage to introduce problem solving strategies and the appropriate moment to intervene when children find tasks difficult. They also discuss how problem solving in the curriculum also helps to develop life skills.

Cards for Cubes: Problem Solving Activities for Young Children

Quality Assured Category: Mathematics Publisher: Claire Publications

This book provides a series of problem solving activities involving cubes. The tasks start simply and progress to more complicated activities so could be used for different ages within Key Stages One and Two depending on ability. The first task is a challenge to create a camel with 50 cubes that doesn't fall over. Different characters are introduced throughout the book and challenges set to create various animals, monsters and structures using different numbers of cubes. Problems are set to incorporate different areas of mathematical problem solving they are: using maths, number, algebra and measure.

Problem solving with EYFS, Key Stage One and Key Stage Two children

Quality Assured Category: Computing Publisher: Department for Education

These three resources, from the National Strategies, focus on solving problems.

  Logic problems and puzzles  identifies the strategies children may use and the learning approaches teachers can plan to teach problem solving. There are two lessons for each age group.

Finding all possibilities focuses on one particular strategy, finding all possibilities. Other resources that would enhance the problem solving process are listed, these include practical apparatus, the use of ICT and in particular Interactive Teaching Programs .

Finding rules and describing patterns focuses on problems that fall into the category 'patterns and relationships'. There are seven activities across the year groups. Each activity includes objectives, learning outcomes, resources, vocabulary and prior knowledge required. Each lesson is structured with a main teaching activity, drawing together and a plenary, including probing questions.

Primary mathematics classroom resources

Quality Assured Collection Category: Mathematics Publisher: Association of Teachers of Mathematics

This selection of 5 resources is a mixture of problem-solving tasks, open-ended tasks, games and puzzles designed to develop students' understanding and application of mathematics.

Thinking for Ourselves: These activities, from the Association of Teachers of Mathematics (ATM) publication 'Thinking for Ourselves’, provide a variety of contexts in which students are encouraged to think for themselves. Activity 1: In the bag – More or less requires students to record how many more or less cubes in total...

8 Days a Week: The resource consists of eight questions, one for each day of the week and one extra. The questions explore odd numbers, sequences, prime numbers, fractions, multiplication and division.

Number Picnic: The problems make ideal starter activities

Matchstick Problems: Contains two activities concentrating upon the process of counting and spotting patterns. Uses id eas about the properties of number and the use of knowledge and reasoning to work out the rules.

Colours: Use logic, thinking skills and organisational skills to decide which information is useful and which is irrelevant in order to find the solution.

GAIM Activities: Practical Problems

Quality Assured Category: Mathematics Publisher: Nelson Thornes

Designed for secondary learners, but could also be used to enrich the learning of upper primary children, looking for a challenge. These are open-ended tasks encourage children to apply and develop mathematical knowledge, skills and understanding and to integrate these in order to make decisions and draw conclusions.

Examples include:

*Every Second Counts - Using transport timetables, maps and knowledge of speeds to plan a route leading as far away from school as possible in one hour.

*Beach Guest House - Booking guests into appropriate rooms in a hotel.

*Cemetery Maths - Collecting relevant data from a visit to a local graveyard or a cemetery for testing a hypothesis.

*Design a Table - Involving diagrams, measurements, scale.

Go Further with Investigations

Quality Assured Category: Mathematics Publisher: Collins Educational

A collection of 40 investigations designed for use with the whole class or smaller groups. It is aimed at upper KS2 but some activities may be adapted for use with more able children in lower KS2. It covers different curriculum areas of mathematics.

Starting Investigations

The forty student investigations in this book are non-sequential and focus mainly on the mathematical topics of addition, subtraction, number, shape and colour patterns, and money.

The apparatus required for each investigation is given on the student sheets and generally include items such as dice, counters, number cards and rods. The sheets are written using as few words as possible in order to enable students to begin working with the minimum of reading.

NRICH Primary Activities

Explore the NRICH primary tasks which aim to enrich the mathematical experiences of all learners. Lots of whole class open ended investigations and problem solving tasks. These tasks really get children thinking!

Mathematical reasoning: activities for developing thinking skills

Quality Assured Category: Mathematics Publisher: SMILE

Problem Solving 2

Reasoning about numbers, with challenges and simplifications.

Quality Assured Category: Mathematics Publisher: Department for Education

Cookie Consent

We use cookies to help provide a better website experience for you, and help us to understand how people use our website. Our partners will also collect data and use cookies for ad personalisation and measurement.

Clicking "Accept" will allow us and our partners to use cookies, learn more in our cookie policy or to change your cookie preferences, click "Manage".

To find out more about cookies and the types of cookies we are setting please visit our cookie policy .

If you'd prefer that certain types of cookie are not saved on your browser when visiting our website, use the toggles below to adjust those preferences and click "Save choices".

Strictly Necessary

These cookies are necessary for the website to function and without them you would not be able to reliably use the website. For example, logging into your account or completing forms.

Analytics Cookies

A series of cookies that collect anonymised data on how users interact with our website. This anonymous data helps us improve the website with a focus on its users, for example, ensuring the most popular content is easier to access.

View associated providers +

Marketing Cookies

These cookies track your online activity to help advertisers deliver more relevant and personalised advertising or to limit how many times you see an ad. These cookies can share that information with other organisations or advertisers.

• 01335 324820

Free Team Building Activities

Watch our new videos to run these activities..

Use the link below to subscribe to our U Tube Channel:

Subscribe Now

Free Team Building Activities For School

Group Size: Any Size,  space allowing Key Stages: KS1, KS2, KS3, KS4, KS5 Team Building Skills:  Concentration, Observation, Strategy, Agility Equipment: Ropes, Tape Or Chalk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVzEKAzDBmQ Use the link below to subscribe to our U Tube Channel: Subscribe Now Download Activity PDF Riverbank is a very easy team building activity

Team Tic Tac Toe

Group Size: Any Size,  space allowing Key Stages: KS2, KS3, KS4, KS5 Team Building Skills: Concentration, Observation, Strategy Communication Equipment: Stools Download Activity PDF https://youtu.be/g4pltPtYGHA Use the link below to subscribe to our U Tube Channel: Subscribe Now There are many ways to play Team Tic Tac Toe. This method

Take Action (Numbers & Actions)

Group Size: Any Size,  space allowing Key Stages: KS1, KS2, KS3, KS4, KS5 Team Building Skills:  Concentration, Following instructions, Speed Equipment: No Equipment Download Activity PDF https://youtu.be/88QLo21O8Xg Use the link below to subscribe to our U Tube Channel: Subscribe Now Take action is the perfect activity to energise your group.

Balloon Towers

Group Size: Multiple groups of 4 – 5   Key Stages: KS2, KS3, KS4, KS5   Team Building Skills: Planning, Strategy, Communication   Equipment: Balloons, Tape, Scissors, Tape Measure Download Activity PDF https://youtu.be/fx9cjm0Me_g Use the link below to subscribe to our You Tube Channel: Subscribe Now Balloon Tower requires small

Dig Dig Dig

Group Size:  10 – 30 Key Stages:  KS2, KS3, KS4, KS5 Team Building Skills: Communication, Observations,  Information Sharing Equipment: Chairs Download Activity PDF https://youtu.be/wSra18Xrvtw Use the link below to subscribe to our You Tube Channel: Subscribe Now Dig Dig Dig is the perfect activity for groups that are getting to

Group Juggle

Group Size: Up to 30 but the larger the number thelonger the ball takes to get to each student. Key Stages: KS1, KS2, KS3, KS4, KS5 Team Building Skills: Communication, Concentration Equipment: A selection of balls or beanbags. Download Activity PDF Use the link below to subscribe to our You

Newspaper Fashion Show

Group Size: Multiple groups of 4 – 5 Key Stages: KS2, KS3, KS4, KS5 Team Building Skills: Imagination, Planning, Strategy, Communication Equipment: Newspaper, String, Tape Download Activity PDF Newspaper Fashion Show will have your teams in tears of laughter. The participants will need to be arranged in groups of 4

Catch The Ball

Group Size: Multiple groups of 4 – 5 Key Stages: KS1, KS2, KS3, KS4, KS5 Team Building Skills: Co-operation, Competition Equipment: Different balls (Table tennis, Golf, Perforated), Drinking straws, Tape Download Activity PDF Catch The Ball is a fantastic exercise to get your groups thinking. With so many ways to

Move The Balloons

Group Size: 30 students plus (Space dependant) Key Stages: KS1, KS2, KS3, KS4, KS5 Team Building Skills: Coordination, Speed Equipment: Balloons – 1 per participant Move The Balloons is a fun fast paced game that will guarantee to have your students out of breath! The participants will need to be

Nosey Parker

Nosey Parker Group Size: Up to 13 players Key Stages: KS1 KS2, KS3, KS4, KS5 Team Building Skills: Concentration, Listening,  Communication Equipment: Pack of Playing cards Download Activity PDF This game is for up to 13 players as each player will need 4 cards from a pack of 52. If

Blindfolded Robots

Blindfolded Robots Group Size: 2 plus Key Stages: KS1, KS2, KS3, KS4, KS5 Team Building Skills: Communication, Trust Equipment:  Bean Bags, Screwed up pieces of paper Download Activity PDF Blindfolded Robots is a great team building challenge to help gain trust between two or more participants. The instructor / teacher

Caterpillar Tracks

Caterpillar Tracks   Group Size: 5 –unlimited space dependant Key Stages: KS1, KS2, KS3, KS4, KS5 Team Building Skills: Attention, Playing your role, Communication Equipment:  No Equipment Download Activity PDF Caterpillar Tracks is a fast paced fun team building activity for all ages. There are two ways to play: The

The White Brick Road

The White Brick Road Group Size: 5 – 30 space dependant Key Stages: KS1, KS2, KS3, KS4, KS5 Team Building Skills: Planning, Memory, Cooperation,  Trust Equipment:  A4 pieces of paper Download Activity PDF The White Brick Road is a great team building game that can be played in a few

Just A Minute

Just A Minute Group Size: Any Key Stages: KS2, KS3, KS4, KS5 Team Building Skills: Decision making, Communication, Planning. Equipment: A means of timing one minute accurately. Download Activity PDF Just A Minute is a very simple game that can be played in a few different ways. The first is

Burst The Balloons

Burst The Balloons Group Size: Any, although large groups may get a little hectic. Key Stages: KS2, KS3, KS4, KS5 Team Building Skills: Organisation, Trust, Communication Equipment: Balloons (cheap balloons work best) and sellotape Download Activity PDF For Burst The Balloons each Person will need to sellotape a balloon to

Mirror Mirror

Mirror Mirror Group Size: Work in group of 2 Key Stages: KS1, KS2, KS3, KS4, KS5 Team Building Skills : Cooperation, Focus, Attention to detail Equipment: No equipment needed Download Activity PDF Mirror Mirror is a very simple but very effective cooperation game. The students will need to work in groups of two.

The Silent Countdown

The Silent Countdown Group Size: 10 – 30 Key Stages: KS1 KS2, KS3, KS4, KS5 Team Building Skills : Concentration, Listening,  Communication Equipment: Blindfolds (possible without)  Download Activity PDF The Silent Countdown is the perfect activity if you want your group to think carefully about what is going on within a team. The

The Sitting Circle

The Sitting Circle Group Size: 10 – 30 Key Stages: Upper KS2, KS3, KS4, KS5 Team Building Skills: Trust, Communication Equipment: No equipment needed Download Activity PDF The Sitting Circle will require participants to be willing to get close to their team mates. The instructor / teacher will need to organise the team

Bridge Build

Group Size: 5 – 30 Key Stages: KS2, KS3, KS4, KS5 Team Building Skills : Planning, Communication, Generating Ideas Equipment: Newspaper, Cellotape Download Activity PDF Bridge Build is a great team building activity for generating ideas and putting them into practice. The students will need to be put of groups of approx 4-5.

The Steeple Chase

The Steeple Chase Group Size: 10 – 100 (space dependant) Key Stages: KS1, KS2, KS3, KS4, KS5 Team Building Skills : Group participation, Following a lead, Public speaking – if commentating Equipment: No equipment needed Download Activity PDF The Steeple Chase is certainly not a quiet circle game. The first thing that you

The Elephant Race

The Elephant Race Group Size: 10 – 100 (space dependant) Key Stages: KS2, KS3, KS4, KS5 Team Building Skills : Taking Part, Personal contact Equipment: No equipment needed Download Activity PDF The Elephant Race is a game that will have the participating teams laughing all the way to the finish line. The instructor

Marshmallow And Spaghetti Towers

Group Size: Any size Key Stages: KS1, KS2, KS3, KS4, KS5 Team Building Skills : Planning, Communication Equipment: Marshmallows and spaghetti Download Activity PDF Firstly you will need to split your cohort into groups of approx 4-5. Each group will need to have exactly the same resources. The same number of marshmallows and

Fizz Buzz Group Size: 10 – 30 Key Stages: KS2, KS3, KS4, KS5 Team Building Skills : Concentration, Support Equipment: No equipment needed Download Activity PDF Fizz Buzz is a fast paced counting game…..with a twist. The group will need to sit in a circle. Decide where to start the game and that

How Are You Doing?, Just Fine Thanks!

Group Size: 10 – 16 Key Stages: KS3, KS4, KS5 Team Building Skills : Trust, Communication Equipment: Blindfolds Download Activity PDF To begin with the group will need to stand in a circle. The instructor / teacher will then to need to tell everyone to turn to the person on their right. They

Group Size: 10 – 30   Key Stages: KS2, KS3, KS4, KS5   Team Building Skills : Following instructions, Group participation   Equipment: No equipment Download Activity PDF Grand Prix is an active and often noisy circle game. The idea is that the participants are pretending to be a racing

Sleeping Lions

Sleeping Lions Group Size: 5 – 30 Key Stages –  KS1, KS2, KS3 Team Building Skills : Common Goal, Trust Equipment: No equipment Download Activity PDF If you have not discovered Sleeping Lions then you will be amazed. It is a brilliant activity to have up your sleeve. Some might say a life

Group Size: 10 – 30 Key Stages: KS1, KS2, KS3, KS4, KS5 Team Building Skills: Getting to know each other,  communication Equipment: Paper and pens Download Activity PDF This is a great guessing game and a fantastic getting to know you game. Every participant will need to be given a small piece of

The River Group Size: Unlimited, although space dependant Key Stages:  KS1, KS2, KS3, KS4, KS5 Team Building Skills: Following instructions, Individual thinking Equipment: Chalk, tape or rope Download Activity PDF This activity is great for big groups. You will need to mark two parallel lines on the floor. This may be done using

The Teddy Chase

Size: 10 – 30 Key stages: KS1, KS2, KS3, KS4, KS5 Team Building Skills: Co-operation, Team Spirit, public speaking if commentating Equipment: Two teddy bears, blindfolds if you are running a variation. Download Activity PDF This is a great team challenge for all ages. With the participants sat in a

Flap The Fish – Fast Paced Team Building Activity

Group Size – Unlimited – although space dependant Key stages –  KS1, KS2, KS3, KS4, KS5 Team Building Skills : Common aim, competitive Equipment – Newspapers, magazine, thick plastic bag. Download Activity PDF Split your students into the same sized groups of between 3 – 6 This fun fast paced fishy

Wizards, Knights and Maidens.

Group Size – 20 Key stages –  KS2, KS3, KS4  Team Building Skills : Working together, Following instructions  Equipment – No Equipment Required Download Activity PDF Students work in groups of 2. If the facilitator shout ‘Wizards’ the pair must assume the following position as fast as possible – both

Blindfold Pass – Free Blindfolded Team Building Activity

Group Size: 10 – 100 Key stages: KS1, KS2, KS3, KS4, KS5  Team Building Skills : Co-operation, Trust Equipment: Bell or other noisy item Download Activity PDF For this blindfolded team building activity the group stand in a large circle. One member of the group stands in the middle of the circle. They need to wear

Battle of the Pen – Free Indoor Team Building Game

Group Size: 6+ Key stages:  KS2, KS3 , KS4, KS5 Team Building Skills: Communication,  Equipment: Pen, Coin and table and chairs  Download Activity PDF This is an indoor team building game played around a table. Ideally even sized teams sit in lines facing each other across a table. Sitting in chairs is

Fruit Salad – Free Team Building Game

For this team building activity everyone is required to stand in a circle. The bigger the group the better – Tricky at the time of print! Go around the circle and give all team members a name – Kiwi, lime, pineapple, banana. These names can be whatever you fancy, although

The Sky Is The Limit aka Newspaper Towers – Free Team Building Exercise

Group Size: Multiple Groups of 4 – 6 Key Stage: KS1, KS2, KS3, KS4, KS5 Team Building Skills: Creativity; Verbal Communication; Decision Making Equipment: Newspapers; Cellotape Download Activity PDF The Sky is the Limit –  AKA: Newspapers Towers,  This activity is a great team building exercise where the equipment of old newspapers and

Free Team Problem Solving Activity – Back To Back aka Sketch It

Back to Back – Sketch it. Students will work in pairs and sit back to back. They will take it in turns to be the describer and the sketcher. The describer will describe a shape without saying the name whilst the sketcher will try to draw the described shape as

Free Team Building Activity – Alphabet Hunt

A great fun yet inexpensive team building activity. All that is required is some scissors a newspaper a piece of A4 paper and a glue stick or cellotape per team. We suggest that this activity is run in teams of 2-6. However larger teams will work. The aim of the

Types of Article

• Indoor Activities
• Competitive Activities
• Active Activities
• Circle Activities
• Calm Down Activities
• Get To Know You Activities
• Blindfold Activities
• Creative Activities
• No Equipment Activities
• Uncategorized

Get Updates And Stay Connected Subscribe To Our Newsletter

Contact information.

• Phone: 01335 324820
• Email: [email protected]
• Address: The Barns, The Hutts Farm Stanton Lane, Ellastone, Ashbourne, Derbyshire DE6 2HD Company Number: 7977414 VAT Number: GB 173376982

Privacy Policy

THE UKS LEADING PROVIDER OF PROBLEM SOLVING & TEAM BUILDING ACTIVITIES FOR SCHOOLS

Primary School Maths Workshops

Primary School Team Building Days

Secondary School Maths Workshops

Secondary School Team Building Days

Free Team Building Activities For Schools​

The 4 Week Challenge

Mobile Laser Tag

Problem solving / team building activities for schools ks1, ks2, ks3, ks4, ks5.

• Teach Early Years
• Teach Primary
• Teach Secondary

• New for Schools

Home > Learning Resources

KS1 and KS2 Maths – ability grouping

• Author: Mike Askew
• Main Subject: CPD
• Subject: Maths
• Date Posted: 18 January 2013

Share this:

The best way to deal with the wide range of maths ability in your class is rarely to place children in groups of high, middle and low attainers, says Mike Askew. A more subtle approach is required...

When running professional development sessions I’m often asked, “Do you believe in ability grouping for mathematics?” The sentiment doesn’t surprise me, but couching it in terms of ‘belief’ does. Saying one believes (or not) in ability grouping leaves the door open for a response of, ‘Well, I believe otherwise,’ and neither the answer nor the response does much to change practices.

However, I do know there is sufficient evidence clearly demonstrating the benefits and drawbacks of different types of grouping to show that grouping practices should not be left to beliefs.

Between class grouping

Some primary schools choose to organise children into ‘sets’ for mathematics teaching, often organised around three levels of mathematical attainment. You can see the logic to this. The National Numeracy Strategy advocated dividing classes into three or four attainment groups; so if a school is large enough, why not put together all the high attainers, all the middle attainers and all the low attainers?

Well, the research evidence is clear: setting pupils does not lead to higher attainment for all. At best, the children who gain from such an arrangement are the higher attainers, but even then the gains for that group are not that impressive. And study after study has shown the gap between higher and lower attaining groups gets wider when children are put into sets (and there are detrimental effects on the attitudes of lower attaining children).

One study, for example, tracked 1,000 KS2 pupils who were taught using the same teaching materials. In test results, the pupils in mixed ability classes significantly outperformed those taught in sets. Another study of 12 primary schools found the KS2 results of pupils grouped by ability were rarely higher than the average for the local authority, or England overall.

Within-class groupings

If children are in heterogeneous classrooms, then what is the best way of grouping them to deal with the diversity of mathematical attainment? In contrast to research into between-class grouping, the research into within-class grouping is more positive: it can raise attainment.

But the picture of what makes for effective withinclass grouping is complex. There is no one-size-fits-all model of grouping and it is certainly not as simple as organising children into high, medium or low attainment groups. Research findings indicate the importance of grouping students in particular ways for particular purposes; the type of grouping depends on the type of learning outcomes being worked on and the learning tasks set. For mathematics, it is helpful to think about groupings for fluency, problem solving and reasoning.

Fluency groups

When it comes to practice and consolidation activities, the research shows that pupils are generally best off working individually. This makes sense – learners are going to be diverse in what they are fluent in, practice activities need to be individually tailored, and time on task is more focused when children practise individually. But, as I noted in a previous article, (Teach Primary 6.3 - tinyurl.com/tpfluency) the important thing here is that children are actually practising – consolidating what they are reasonably fluent in – rather than learning new material. Perhaps such tasks can be set as homework, since practice should not require a teacher to hand.

Problem solving groups

If we accept that problem solving can be a powerful way of engaging with new mathematical ideas (as opposed to applying mathematics previously learnt in a decontextualized fashion) then research shows paired work as the best grouping for developing understanding.

The findings here rest on extending the idea of ‘cognitive conflict’ into ‘socio-cognitive conflict’. Piaget introduced the idea of cognitive conflict: that learning comes about through an individual becoming aware of a contradiction in their understanding. (For example, the conflict between water poured from a wide container into a thin one looking as though it has increased in volume, but logic telling you that the amount cannot really have changed.)

Researchers now have shown that such conflict need not only be an individual act of cognition, but can be provoked by pairs bringing different perspectives to a problem. Differences in perspectives come to be resolved by the development of a joint perspective that is more complex than either child originally thought.

It seems common sense to assume that mixed attainment pairs working together may lead to the lower attaining partner advancing towards the level of the higher attaining partner, but this partner not gaining as much from the experience. Research does show, however, that even when pairs have differing levels of attainment, the more advanced child can progress as much as his or her less advanced peer – the old saw of ‘two heads being better than one’ appears to hold true.

A key issue in effective pair work is the power dynamic between the children. If one child is dominant and the other acquiescent, then working through to a shared perspective is unlikely to come about. Paired work only works well when the partners trust each other and can work well together. In fact, trust and cooperation seem to be more important considerations when selecting pairs to work together than factors such as matching attainment levels, or friendships.

Reasoning groups

Larger groups appear to be best suited to the development of reasoning and, when everyone in the class has been working on similar versions of a task, whole class dialogue can provide a suitable arena for practising this skill – even with a wide range of attainment in the participants. Just as pairs working on a problem can reach a level of understanding higher than either could attain on their own, so a larger group (including the whole class) can reach a higher level of reasoning and understanding.

One of the reasons why this is so comes from studies revealing that the person who is likely to learn most from group work is the participant asking the most questions; with the person answering the most questions making the next highest learning gains. When children present their work in a whole class setting, they can set up a dialogue that provokes questions about their solutions. These questions can then be answered both by the presenters and other children in the group.

Collectively, the class establishes a more sophisticated level of reasoning, and in the process, individual understanding improves.

Thus the plenary becomes important and, in order to provoke dialogue, needs to be more than a show and tell.

Ideas need to bounce off each other for the mathematics to emerge, which means children carefully listening to, building on – or arguing against – each other’s explanations.

A shift in perspective

Putting this into practice requires a shift in how we think about and plan for classes. One way of thinking about a class is as a collection of 30 individuals, each of whom has a specific level of mathematical understanding that has to be catered for. As I’ve noted above, this way of viewing the class probably does need to be adopted when planning activities to develop fluency.

An alternative view of a class is as a collective: the class as a whole has ‘understanding’ and ‘needs’. From this perspective, tasks for pairs or groups to work on need to be carefully chosen so they are beyond the grasp of any individual member of the pair or group. If pair or group tasks are chosen on the basis of being appropriate for the level of individual attainment, they may not be sufficiently challenging to provoke socio-cognitive conflict and the consequent deep learning. Tasks need to be chosen so that the resources required to solve them – knowledge, skills, problemsolving strategies and so forth – are not within the grasp of any single individual and accomplishing the task requires input from others.

At the same time, tasks need to be chosen so that everyone in the group can become engaged. I find the idea from NRich (nrich.org) of ‘low threshold, high ceiling’ tasks particularly helpful here – tasks that have an easy entry point (a low threshold) but the potential to engage learners in deep mathematical reasoning (high ceilings). As Lynne McClure points out in an article on this idea (nrich.maths.org/7701), one of the great advantages of such tasks is that they allow learners to show what they can do rather than what they cannot do.

The key shift in perspective regards how we view diversity. Too often diversity is cast as a ‘problem’ in classrooms, as something that needs to be reduced or managed in some way. The research into effective group work shows that diversity in classrooms is actually a good thing. Diversity – of ideas, of strategies, of reasoning – is essential to levering up understanding. We need to embrace diversity.

Much of the research I draw on here is summarised in ‘An extended review of pupil grouping in schools’ (DfES, Kutnick P, Sebba J, et al, 2005). The full report can be downloaded from tinyurl.com/tpgroups

You may also be interested in...

• Download your free digital copy of the brand new January issue of Teach Primary now
• Teach Primary Awards 2019 Finalists Announced
• Oxford University Press celebrate double victory
• Free resources for teaching film in primary schools
• National Curriculum Key Stage 2 assessments reveal increased attainment in primaries

Subscribe to Our Newsletter

I agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy & Cookies Policy.

Tried & Tested

Power Maths – A Child-Centred, ‘Can-Do’ Mastery Teaching Programme for KS1 and KS2

Category: Maths

Fit To Dance Schools From Disney On Ice

Category: Other

‘S!ng Sensational’ And ‘A King Is Born’ – Two Fun New Musical Masterpieces That Children Will Love

Category: Music

Product review: Schofield & Sims Fractions, Decimals & Percentages

See all Tried & Tested products

Recommended for you...

Transform A Classroom To Take Your Creative Writing To Exciting Places

Ace-English

How Financial Education Helps Children

Ace-Classroom-Support

How to win parents over on open day

Think and act like a leader whatever your role in school

Follow us on Twitter @teachprimary :

Share teach primary:.

Home | Tried & Tested | Interactive | Book Reviews | Resources | News | Hot Products | Advertising Contact Us | Primary Resources | Primary Teaching Resources | Privacy Policy

Copyright 2024 Artichoke Media Ltd

Registered in England and Wales No 14769147 | Registered Office Address: Jubilee House, 92 Lincoln Road, Peterborough, PE1 2SN

Or search by topic

Number and algebra

• The Number System and Place Value
• Calculations and Numerical Methods
• Fractions, Decimals, Percentages, Ratio and Proportion
• Properties of Numbers
• Patterns, Sequences and Structure
• Algebraic expressions, equations and formulae
• Coordinates, Functions and Graphs

Geometry and measure

• Angles, Polygons, and Geometrical Proof
• 3D Geometry, Shape and Space
• Measuring and calculating with units
• Transformations and constructions
• Pythagoras and Trigonometry
• Vectors and Matrices

Probability and statistics

• Handling, Processing and Representing Data
• Probability

Working mathematically

• Thinking mathematically
• Mathematical mindsets
• Cross-curricular contexts
• Physical and digital manipulatives

For younger learners

• Early Years Foundation Stage

Advanced mathematics

• Decision Mathematics and Combinatorics
• Advanced Probability and Statistics

Patterns and Sequences KS1

This collection is one of our Primary Curriculum collections - tasks that are grouped by topic.

Cube Bricks and Daisy Chains

Daisy and Akram were making number patterns. Daisy was using beads that looked like flowers and Akram was using cube bricks. First they were counting in twos.

Poly Plug Pattern

Create a pattern on the small grid. How could you extend your pattern on the larger grid?

Chairs and Tables

Make a chair and table out of interlocking cubes, making sure that the chair fits under the table!

Next Domino

Which comes next in each pattern of dominoes?

A City of Towers

In this town, houses are built with one room for each person. There are some families of seven people living in the town. In how many different ways can they build their houses?

Domino Patterns

What patterns can you make with a set of dominoes?

Repeating Patterns

Try continuing these patterns made from triangles. Can you create your own repeating pattern?

Three Ball Line Up

Use the interactivity to help get a feel for this problem and to find out all the possible ways the balls could land.

Caterpillars

These caterpillars have 16 parts. What different shapes do they make if each part lies in the small squares of a 4 by 4 square?

Missing Middles

Can you work out the domino pieces which would go in the middle in each case to complete the pattern of these eight sets of three dominoes?

Break it Up!

In how many different ways can you break up a stick of seven interlocking cubes? Now try with a stick of eight cubes and a stick of six cubes. What do you notice?

Counting Stick Conjectures

How many rectangles can you see? Are they all the same size? Can you predict how many rectangles there will be in counting sticks of different lengths?

Triple Cubes

This challenge involves eight three-cube models made from interlocking cubes. Investigate different ways of putting the models together then compare your constructions.

Street Sequences

Investigate what happens when you add house numbers along a street in different ways.

Circles, Circles

Here are some arrangements of circles. How many circles would I need to make the next size up for each? Can you create your own arrangement and investigate the number of circles it needs?

Hundred Square

A hundred square has been printed on both sides of a piece of paper. What is on the back of 100? 58? 23? 19?

School Fair Necklaces

How many possible symmetrical necklaces can you find? How do you know you've found them all?

• 01732 822753
• How We Work With You
• Why Choose WiseUp
• Primary School Testimonials
• Secondary School Testimonials
• Higher Education Testimonials
• Sustainable Team Building in UK Schools
• Staff Team Area
• London School Team Building
• Kent School Team Building
• Surrey School Team Building
• East Sussex School Team Building
• West Sussex School Team Building
• Hampshire School Team Building
• Berkshire School Team Building
• Buckinghamshire School Team Building
• Oxfordshire School Team Building
• Essex School Team Building
• Hertfordshire School Team Building
• Bedfordshire School Team Building
• Suffolk School Team Building
• Cambridgeshire School Team Building
• Norfolk School Team Building
• Bristol School Team Building
• Cornwall School Team Building
• Dorset School Team Building
• Devon School Team Building
• Gloucestershire School Team Building
• Somerset School Team Building
• Wiltshire School Team Building
• Staffordshire School Team Building
• Warwickshire School Team Building
• Shropshire School Team Building
• Herefordshire School Team Building
• Worcestershire School Team Building
• Birmingham, Coventry & Wolverhampton School Team Building
• Northamptonshire School Team Building
• Derbyshire School Team Building
• Leicestershire School Team Building
• Rutland School Team Building
• Nottinghamshire School Team Building
• Lincolnshire School Team Building
• South Yorkshire School Team Building
• West Yorkshire School Team Building
• North Yorkshire School Team Building
• East Riding School Team Building
• North Lincolnshire School Team Building
• Northumberland School Team Building
• County Durham School Team Building
• Tyne and Wear School Team Building
• North Yorkshire (N.East) School Team Building
• Cheshire School Team Building
• Cumbria School Team Building
• Manchester School Team Building
• Lancashire School Team Building
• Merseyside School Team Building
• Key Stage 1 & 2 Activity Days
• Year 1 & 2 Activities
• Year 3 & 4 Activities
• Year 5 & 6 Activities
• Key Stage 3 & 4 Activity Days
• Year 7 Transition Activities
• Year 8 & 9 Activities
• Year 10 & 11 Activities
• 6th Form Activities
• College Activities
• University Activities
• Staff & Teacher Inset Days
• Teacher Training
• The Hub Challenge
• Time Attack
• Mission Possible
• The Bushcraft Challenge
• Apprentice Themed Activity Day
• Outdoor Assault Course
• Orienteering
• Giant Bridge Challenge
• Catapult Building Challenge
• Multi Day Activity Packages
• Free Activities
• Members Area

Year Groups

WiseUp Team Building have problem solving activity days for all year groups. You might be a Primary School teacher with a chattering group of Year 1 – Years 6’s. Or a member of teaching staff at a Secondary School managing tricky Year 7 – Year 11’s.  WiseUp has an activity to suit your year group. Our challenges range in ability, meaning they are suitable for Key Stage 1 & 2 in addition to Key Stage 3 & 4. Higher Education and College students are treated to more ambitious activities and challenges. We also offer specially designed teacher inset activity days alongside our successful teacher training programmes.

Primary Year Groups: Key Stage 1 & 2

In line with the national curriculum, our activities for these year groups focus on introducing students to many important personal and team work skills. For instance, we encourage students to support their team mates. By cheering each other on and being friendly towards others, teams have a higher chance of succeeding. Throwing and catching activities help to improve hand eye co-ordination, especially for Year 1 and Year 2. Resilience is a key focus area for Year 3, Year 4, Year 5 and Year 6.

Secondary Year Groups: Key Stage 3 & 4

Older year groups love our more challenging problem solving activity days. Team work skills including planning communication, and motivation are targeted for this age range.  As a result, our team building challenges are the perfect icebreaker for Year 7 transition days. Year 8 and Year 9 students can enjoy these activities on enrichment days during activity weeks, or even a mid term drop down day. We also have challenges ideally suited to reward days for the older students in Year 10 and Year 11.

Team Building & Problem Solving Activity Days for All Year Groups

Whatever the year group, our many exciting and engaging team building activities will give everyone a great day. See which of our problem solving activity days will best suit your year group below.

Primary School Team Building Activity Days

Secondary School Team Building Activity Days

Higher Education Activity Days

Enquire now.

For more information about our activities or to check availability, fill in the form below and one of our friendly team will get back to you. Alternatively call us on 01732 822753

• Privacy Overview
• Strictly Necessary Cookies

This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.

Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.

If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again.

• International
• Schools directory
• Resources Jobs Schools directory News Search

Team Building & Problem Solving

Subject: Physical education

Age range: 11-14

Resource type: Worksheet/Activity

Last updated

8 July 2013

• Share through email
• Share through twitter
• Share through linkedin
• Share through facebook
• Share through pinterest

Creative Commons "Sharealike"

Your rating is required to reflect your happiness.

It's good to leave some feedback.

Something went wrong, please try again later.

Inspirational! Thanks!

Empty reply does not make any sense for the end user

Great ideas! - Very clear and easy to understand.

Great ideas - simple to understand and setup!

Report this resource to let us know if it violates our terms and conditions. Our customer service team will review your report and will be in touch.

Not quite what you were looking for? Search by keyword to find the right resource: