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Maths can be a tricky subject for many primary school students, but it doesn’t have to be boring or stressful. With the right strategies, learning maths can be a fun and rewarding experience! By making maths fun, you can help your child build confidence and a strong foundation in the subject.
Here are some fun maths activities for kids to help improve your child’s maths skills.
Test your child's skills in fractions, decimals and percentages, patterns, and geometry. 
Free Year 6 Ultimate Maths Worksheet Download
One of the best ways to make maths fun is by turning it into a game. Today, there are countless fun maths activities for kids in the form of apps and online games that make learning interactive and enjoyable. These platforms are designed to challenge kids while rewarding them for their progress, helping to build a love for maths and improve their maths skills. It’s like sneaking veggies into a meal—they don’t even realise they’re learning!
Apps like Prodigy and DragonBox are great for this. In Prodigy, children embark on an exciting adventure where they must solve maths problems to progress through levels. The game allows them to battle monsters and earn rewards, keeping them engaged for hours while they practise maths. Instead of traditional worksheets, Prodigy offers an immersive experience that transforms maths practice into a magical quest.
DragonBox is known for its unique approach to teaching algebra through intuitive gameplay. By solving puzzles, children develop a deep understanding of algebraic principles while having fun. This type of learning can be particularly beneficial for children who are visual or hands-on learners, as they can see the relationships between numbers and variables through the game’s interactive elements.
Other apps, like Khan Academy Kids and SplashLearn, offer a wide range of interactive lessons and games that cover everything from basic counting to more advanced topics like fractions and geometry. These apps provide immediate feedback, helping students learn from their mistakes in real-time and deepen their understanding of key concepts.
However, even though these apps and games have good intentions, they can sometimes be distracting and hard to monitor. You might hand over a phone or iPad, trusting that your child is focusing on maths, but it can be difficult to be sure they’re not getting sidetracked by other apps or advertisements. This is where structured support, like the programs offered by Matrix, can be beneficial. Matrix offers thousands of maths exercises aligned with the curriculum, ensuring that your child can engage in fun maths activities for kids that are also educational.
Cooking provides endless fun maths opportunities for kids while also teaching them practical life skills. Ask your child to help you measure ingredients, follow recipes, or adjust the quantities. For example, if a recipe calls for 250 grams of flour but you want to make half the recipe, ask your child to calculate how much flour you’ll need. This simple activity teaches them about fractions and division in a hands-on way. You can also talk about ratios—for example, if you double a recipe, how does the amount of sugar compare to the amount of butter?
Baking is another great way to introduce concepts like volume and temperature and improve your child’s maths skills. When you ask your child to preheat the oven or set a timer, they’ll practise reading numbers and calculating time.
Shopping is a fantastic real-world way to teach children about money and mental arithmetic. Next time you’re at the supermarket, give your child a budget and ask them to pick out items while staying within the limit. They can add up the prices and make sure they don’t go over budget, practising addition, subtraction, and multiplication along the way. For older children, you can introduce more complex tasks, such as calculating discounts or working out the best value for money by comparing prices.
You can also give them some coins and ask them to calculate how much change you should receive after paying. This reinforces basic skills in addition and subtraction and helps them become more confident with mental maths.
You need maths to understand time and distance. Ask your child to estimate how long it will take to drive to a destination or calculate how far you’ll travel in a certain amount of time. This simple exercise teaches them about time management, estimation, and even basic speed and distance calculations. If you’re planning a trip, ask your child to help plan the route by calculating distances between stops or working out arrival times.
Simple tasks around the house can turn into maths lessons as well. Ask your child to help you divide pizza slices evenly among family members, or calculate how many more minutes it will take for dinner to be ready if the oven is set at a certain temperature. These small but effective activities show how maths is used in everyday life, making it more engaging and less intimidating.
If your child finds it difficult to apply maths to these real-world situations, enrolling them in a structured maths course can help. Matrix Education’s programs are designed to connect classroom learning with everyday life, helping students see how maths is relevant beyond their schoolwork. Plus, all of Matrix’s courses are aligned with the NESA (New South Wales Education Standards Authority) syllabus, so you can rest assured that your child is learning exactly what they need to succeed in school.
Children love to build and create, which makes hands-on activities a fantastic way to strengthen their maths skills. Solving puzzles or constructing with blocks are fun maths activities for kids that also encourage logical thinking and problem-solving.
Lego blocks are not only fun to play with but also offer excellent opportunities to explore maths concepts like geometry, proportions, and spatial reasoning. You can ask your child to build a specific structure or create patterns with blocks, which helps them develop an understanding of shapes, sizes, and angles.
For older children, challenge them to replicate a real-world structure using Lego. They’ll need to use scale and proportion to get the details right, which introduces more advanced concepts like ratios and measurement.
Puzzles like Sudoku, logic grids, and number crosswords are great for developing critical thinking and problem-solving skills. These activities help children identify patterns, plan ahead, and think strategically—all of which are essential for solving maths problems.
For younger children, jigsaw puzzles can help with spatial awareness and shape recognition, while older kids can tackle more complex puzzles that challenge them to use their logic and reasoning.
Many board games can help with maths skills as well. Monopoly, for example, is a fun way to practise money management, mental arithmetic, and budgeting. Players must keep track of their finances, make decisions about buying properties, and manage their cash flow—skills that translate well to real-life money management.
Games like Qwirkle and Set focus on pattern recognition and logic, encouraging players to spot connections and think strategically. These games are not only enjoyable but also help children sharpen their maths skills in a relaxed setting.
For children who love to draw or build, combining maths and art is a wonderful way to make learning more engaging. Art projects like tessellations or origami are not only fun maths activities for kids but also help develop key maths concepts like symmetry, geometry, and fractions. These projects can significantly improve your child’s maths skills while keeping them entertained.
Origami—the art of paper folding—is a fantastic way to explore geometry and spatial reasoning. As children fold paper into different shapes, they work with concepts like symmetry, fractions, and angles without even realising it. This hands-on activity also helps them understand how two-dimensional shapes can be transformed into three-dimensional objects, which is a key concept in geometry.
If your child enjoys colouring, give them a mandala to work on. Mandalas are circular designs that often contain symmetrical patterns, making them perfect for teaching children about symmetry and geometry. As they colour, talk to them about how the patterns are mirrored across the design, and challenge them to create their own symmetrical designs.
For older children, tessellations can be an exciting project. A tessellation is a pattern made of shapes that fit together without any gaps or overlaps, like tiles on a floor. Creating tessellations introduces children to concepts like angles, area, and geometry, all while allowing them to explore their creativity.
For children who love stories, maths-themed books are a great way to introduce them to mathematical concepts in a fun and engaging way. Many children’s books weave maths into their narratives, making it more approachable for young readers.
Books like The Grapes of Math by Greg Tang and Sir Cumference and the First Round Table by Cindy Neuschwander introduce children to addition, multiplication, and even geometry through fun stories and illustrations. These books make maths less intimidating and more like a puzzle to solve.
Reading maths-themed books together can also give you an opportunity to discuss the concepts in a relaxed setting. You can ask your child to explain the maths problem that the characters are facing, or work through the problem together. This helps reinforce their understanding of the material while making learning enjoyable.
While games, puzzles, and everyday activities are fantastic for encouraging maths practice, some children may need a bit more structure to truly grasp the concepts. That’s where tutoring comes in.
At Matrix Education, we combine the enjoyment of fun maths activities for kids with the structure needed to help them improve their maths skills. Whether your child is struggling with basic maths or looking to take on more advanced topics like algebra or geometry, our expert teachers can guide them through the material step by step.
What sets Matrix apart is our structured approach. Our lessons are carefully aligned with the NSW school curriculum, ensuring that your child is learning what they need to succeed in school. With small class sizes and experienced teachers, Matrix helps students build confidence, master key concepts, and stay ahead in their studies.
Consistency is key when it comes to learning maths. Setting up a regular routine for practising maths at home can make a big difference in your child’s progress. Incorporate fun maths activities for kids into their daily routine to make learning enjoyable. This not only helps reinforce what they’ve learnt but also builds their confidence as they become more familiar with different maths concepts.
You can also encourage your child to set goals and track their progress. This could be as simple as creating a progress chart or offering small rewards for reaching milestones. A little motivation can go a long way in making maths feel less like a chore and more like a fun challenge.
At Matrix, we provide students with access to online practice materials, allowing them to revise and practise at their own pace. This helps reinforce what they’ve learnt in class and gives them the extra confidence they need to tackle upcoming assessments.
Helping your child improve their maths skills doesn’t have to be stressful. By incorporating games, puzzles, hands-on activities, and creative projects into their routine, you can make maths fun and engaging. The more fun maths activities for kids you introduce, the more likely they are to enjoy learning, which will ultimately help them succeed in maths and beyond.
If your child needs extra help, consider enrolling them in our Maths course. With expert teachers, personalised lessons, and comprehensive resources, Matrix can help your child build the foundation they need to succeed in maths and beyond.
Try a free trial with Matrix Education today.
Written by Matrix Education
Matrix is Sydney's No.1 High School Tuition provider. Come read our blog regularly for study hacks, subject breakdowns, and all the other academic insights you need.
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