Maths Year 2 Summer Puzzles and Games

Day 1 Teaching
Keep this part of the lesson short so that children have time to play 2 games. Introduce Skittles and Roll a penny, modelling these games in front of the class with a group of children. Talk through the calculation strategies that might be needed for each game.
Group Activities
-- Children play Tug of War and Can Knock Down.
-- Children play Skittles and Roll a Penny.

Day 2 Teaching
Play ‘Traffic lights’. Each pair chooses 3 numbers on their sheet and rings them. Roll two 0 to 9 dice. If the total is one of children’s 3 numbers, they colour the top light in red. Continue until 1 pair has completely coloured one of its 3 lights red, orange and green. Which numbers appear to be good to choose? Why? Which numbers were not so good to choose?!
Group Activities
-- Play Make 10.
-- Play Stick or Roll.
-- Play Turn the Cards.

Day 3 Teaching
Play Avoid the 10s. Place a counter on a number. A child moves the counter to a neighbouring number. They add this number to the previous number. Record the running total. Continue taking turns with the class. If the class get past 50 without you making a total of a multiple of 10, they win. If not, you win!
Group Activities
-- Play Spot on.
-- Play Avoid the 10s, but with subtraction.

Day 4 Teaching
Shuffle 1 to 9 digit cards. Ask an ‘assistant’ to use the cards in that order to mark a 2-digit number on a 0 to 100 landmarked line. Repeat. Children work in pairs to shuffle 1 to 9 digit cards, and take two to try to make a number between your two numbers. Repeat.
Group Activities
-- Children play Inbetweenies in pairs on 0 to 100 lines.
-- Children play Inbetweenies with 3-digit numbers on a 0 to 1000 line.

Day 5 Teaching
Two children help you to demonstrate the game Banned. Write 35 on a whiteboard, with tens and more written alongside. Show the class, but NOT the two children helping you. A child from each table gives a clue without using the two banned words. Continue until the children guess the number. Repeat for rectangle with rectangle and sides as the banned words.
Group Activities
-- Children play Banned using given cards with numbers/pictures and banned words.

• ‘Skittles’ - small plastic water/pop bottles labelled 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 or 6, containing 1, 2… or 6 egg cups of sand and a ball capable of knocking them down
• ‘1 to 100 grids’ (see resources)
• ‘Roll a penny’ grids on A3 paper (see resources)
• Pennies and plenty of replica coins
• Long strip of paper (for Tug of War number line)
• Counters and a coin
• Empty cans labelled 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 and 60
• Bean bag
• ‘Traffic Lights’ sheet (see resources)
• IWB 0 to 9 dice
• Red, orange and green colouring pencils
• ‘Make 10’ sheet (see resources)
• 1-6 dice and 1 to 12 digit cards
• Additional activity sheets (see resources)
• Flipchart paper
• Mini-whiteboard and pens

Day 1
How many to the next 10? (pre-requisite skills).

Day 2
Identify numbers on a line (pre-requisite skills).

Suggested for Day 3
Recognise multiples of 5 (simmering skills).

Suggested for Day 4
Compare numbers (simmering skills).

Suggested for Day 5
5 times tables (simmering skills).

Day 1
Add three or four multiples of 10 in a game of Skittles.
Add many multiples of 10 to a string of 1s numbers to find a grand total for games of Skittles and Hoopla.

Day 2
Play ‘Make 10’ to practise adding several 1-digit numbers.
Play ‘Down the snake’ to practise subtracting 1-digit numbers from 2-digit numbers.

Day 3
Play ‘Tens frustration!’ to practise adding 1-digit numbers to 2-digit numbers.

Day 4
Write numbers between given pairs of 2-digit numbers; place them on a line.
Make all possible 2-digit numbers using three different digit cards.

Day 5
Write descriptions of at least 3 number/ picture cards without using ‘banned’ words.

This unit has no separate problem-solving activities or investigations.

This unit has no separate Extra Support activities.

Day 1 Teaching
Show the ‘Number lines’ puzzle. Explain that that each line adds up to 16. Which would be a good number to work out first? Why? Children find the total of the 3 numbers in the top line, and work out what needs to be added to make 16. Continue to solve the puzzle.
Group Activities
-- Arrange counters on 5 plates to make given totals.
-- Create balancing sums using cubes and a bucket balance.
-- Solve, and then make up number puzzles.

Day 2 Teaching
Display the first arithmagon. Explain how it works. Write 4 and 1 in the top and bottom right circles. Children work out the number in the bottom left circle. Ah, a problem! We need 5 to add to 1 make 6, but we need 3 to add to 4 to make 7! Through experimentation, trial and improvement, agree the solution.
Group Activities
-- Solve addition or multiplication arithmagons.

• ‘Number lines’ (see resources)
• 15 paper plates
• Counters
• Bucket balance (rocker scales)
• Cubes
• ‘Number puzzles’ sheet (see resources)
• ‘Arithmagons’ sheet 1 (see resources)
• ‘Solve these arithmagons’ sheets 2 and 3
• Additional activity sheets (see resources)
• 1-9 digit cards

Day 1
Addition facts (pre-requisite skills).

Suggested for Day 2
Pairs of multiples of 10 adding to 100 (simmering skills).

Day 1
Solve missing number addition puzzles.

Day 2
Arithmagons: Solve missing number addition puzzles, using logic.

This unit has no separate problem-solving activities or investigations.

This unit has no separate Extra Support activities.

Day 1 Teaching
Display ‘Teddy bears’ birthday tea’. The four bears are going to sit at this table for a birthday tea. Your task is to sit them in the correct places according to some clues. Together work out how to sit them in the correct places.
Group Activities
-- Move the bears to find solutions to the logic puzzles.
-- Arrange bears, then make up and test their own clues.
-- Choose a number on the 1-100 grid; give clues for others to identify the mystery number, or have others ask number property questions.

Day 2 Teaching
Display one of each of the following coins on the IWB: 1p, 2p, 5p and 10p. Say that these four coins need to be arranged in a line according to the given rules. Take suggestions about coin order, with reasoning, from the class, moving the coins around to try out their ideas until the arrangement matches all four rules.
Group Activities
-- Work as a group to solve logic puzzles involving coins.
-- Work together to solve Queen Esmerelda’s coins challenge.

Day 3 Teaching
Explain that tangrams are an ancient Chinese puzzle made from seven 2-D pieces. Give each pair of children a set of tangram pieces, ask them to cut them up and then mix them up. Their first challenge is to try and rearrange them as a square! Repeat for other shapes, as suggested in an online activity.
Group Activities
-- Whole class: Children use tangram pieces to recreate pictures.

• ‘Teddy bears’ birthday tea’ sheets 1 and 2 (see resources)
• Coloured counting bears (or counters)
• ‘Write your own clues’ sheet (see resources)
• ITP: Number Grid
• Interactive 100 grid (Splat from www.primarygames.co.uk requires Flash)
• IWB coins and 1p, 2p, 5p and 10p coins
• Additional activity sheets (see resources)
• 20 identical coins for each pair
• Online tangrams game at www.ejectamenta.com

Day 1
Positional vocabulary (pre-requisite skills).

Day 2
Coin totals (pre-requisite skills).

Suggested for Day 3
Ordering numbers (simmering skills).

Day 1
Work in pairs to solve ‘Bear birthday party’ logic puzzles, using bears or counters.

Day 2
Solve coin logic puzzles, moving coins around to help.

Day 3
None

This unit has no separate problem-solving activities or investigations.

This unit has no separate Extra Support activities.