Maths Trail
Take a walk on the wild side and create a Maths Trail!
“Do you know what my worst lesson is? It’s maths, but I really like doing maths when it’s outdoors!”
“My favourite bit this week was the maths trail because it’s outside and you get to do more things.”
The above sentiments were expressed by children who had just completed a maths trail at school as part of Maths Week. A trail can take many different forms. Learn more below.
What is a 'Maths Trail'?
A Maths Trail is an organised walk through an area close to school where pupils can experience maths in the real world. A trail will help to highlight for them the huge use we make of numbers in our everyday life and how maths surrounds us in even the most unusual areas.
Why do a Maths Trail?
There are many great reasons to do a Maths Trail. Here are just a few!
- To encourage mathematical thinking and talking
- To encourage problem solving
- The emphasis is on the journey through a problem rather than the answer
- To facilitate group work and working collaboratively together
- To create an active learning experience for pupils the learning is in the doing
- Children get to see the practical application of maths in the world around them
There are numerous mathematically rich examples, living and non-living, that can be found in your surrounding environment, such as the school playground, the local shopping centre, the local park, the local sports ground, museums, art galleries, to name a few.
Considerations
Here are some questions which may need to be asked before you decide what type of trail to consider:
- What ages are the intended participants?
- What element of maths is the trail on? (A trail can be devised for each strand to introduce a topic or reinforce learning)
- Who is designing it?
- Where will it take place?
- Are there any safety considerations if the trail takes you outside the school?
- Is it time or weather dependent?
- Is there any equipment needed?
- Are there any helpers needed?
Types of trail
This type of trail involves venturing out into the local environment close to the school. Pupils may be asked to look for maths, numbers, shapes and patterns in the world around them. Activities may include identifying shapes, counting quantities of leaves on a tree or other materials, measuring the distance between two points, finding an example of a fractal in nature, and many more. Use this downloadable worksheet designed by PDST for younger pupils to accompany a maths trail in the local environment.
Divide into smaller groups and elect one member of the group to be blindfolded. The other members of the group give the blindfolded child instructions, e.g.
- Directions move left, right, 5 steps, 1 metre (this can help with spatial awareness)
- Identify shapes can the child tell how many corners, straight edges, etc. are on a certain shape?
- Use a picture to find information or a certain location
- Take a picture of your answer using a phone or camera
- Let children design a trail using pictures they take
Make it fun!
Ask pupils to take note of various elements they encounter every day. What shapes are they? How many of them do you see?
- Road signs
- Traffic lights (how long does it stay on green?)
- Buildings or houses on their route home
- Distance or time taken to get home
A world of information at their finger tips!
- Finding information on certain websites
- Using the keyboard what happens when you press F1? Location of keys
- Have different questions or brainteasers displayed in the playground (e.g. stuck on the inside of a window facing out)
- Let children put their answers in a box
- Announce a weekly winner
Tips for success
- Dont make it too long
- Include a wide variety of activities to maintain enjoyment and enthusiasm
- Have clear sections
- Create an interesting layout
- Dont make it a race
- Include both open and closed tasks and vary the level of difficulty to provide for the full age and ability range
Creating your own Maths Trail
We recommend introducing children to maths trails by having them explore, in small groups, 4-5 areas of interest within their own classroom. Writing a maths question for the area they are in. Following several of these classroom explorations and follow-up class discussions, children could venture outside to create maths questions at 4-5 named locations. These questions can then be discussed and developed into your very own maths trail.
Maths trails can be designed to link strands and strand units of the mathematics curriculum. The mathematics curriculum can also be linked and integrated with other subject areas such as PE, geography, history and science, using a topic-based trail.
Both students and teachers can create maths trails that target a range of mathematical understandings. Specifically, maths trails can be:
- Student-generated – designed by students for their peers or younger students to undertake
- Teacher-generated – trialled and modified by children to produce a new, improved math trail
- Teacher-generated – designed for children and their families to explore in their school surroundings, their home, or their local environment
- Teacher-generated – designed for their teaching peers to trial, improve, and implement
It is good to have a range of question starting points. Click on your relevant class below to see some examples of age related questions:
Examples of Maths Trails
View these examples to see what others have been doing for Maths Trails and inspire your own!
The Easter Trail – a student-generated maths trail created by a class of 7-year-old children – with some teacher support – for a parent/child activity day.
South King Street in Dublin – this trail is designed to show young people and families that maths is related to the real world around them and that while challenging, maths can be enjoyable.
Maths on the Quayside – a teacher-generated maths trail created, trialled and modified by 10-year-old children for a large cross school event. During the two day event 2,600 children walked this maths trail.
The Hidden Beauty within Durham City – a teacher-generated maths trail designed for 14-year-old children and their families to explore their local environment. The local Tourist Information Centre provide this trail to families who are interested in searching out the hidden maths in their city.
Additional guidance
Template for designing maths walks
PDST – advice on designing trails.
Woodland maths trail – developed with a view to reinforcing school maths and making a link with a woodland environment.
NRICH at the University of Cambridge – gives ideas on how to develop a maths trail, and gives locations in the UK of cultural sites which contain maths trails for children.
Walled garden trail available for schools to book and complete in Larne – what a great way to incorporate maths into a school trip!