Creative Activities in Mathematics Book 1 provides twelve different class activities suitable for students in lower and middle primary school (Foundation to Year 4), along with teaching notes and staged lesson plans.
About the authors
Derek Holton is a mathematician and an Honorary Professor at the Melbourne Graduate School of Education.
Cath Pearn is a Senior Research Fellow in the ACER Institute and a lecturer in Mathematics Education at the University of Melbourne.
Student materials
Download a full set of activity sheets that provide a framework for student responses. These can be printed or copied for use in class.
Additional online resources
Part 1: Number and Algebra
Chapter 1: Numbers and words
- Simon Singh's Black Chamber - http://www.simonsingh.net/The_Black_Chamber/index.html
- The Caesar cipher - http://www.simonsingh.net/The_Black_Chamber/caesar.html
- Caesar’s method (The Caesar cipher) - http://mathworld.wolfram.com/CaesarsMethod.html
Chapter 2: Cats and dogs
- How cats age - http://www.calculatorcat.com/cats/cat-years.phtml
- Chart of cat ages to human ages - http://cats.about.com/cs/healthissues/a/agechart.htm
- Dog years calculator - http://www.onlineconversion.com/dogyears.htm
- How to calculate a dog's age in years - http://www.ehow.com/how_8461704_calculate-dogs-age-years.html
- The lifespan of animals - http://sonic.net/~petdoc/lifespan.htm
Chapter 3: Difference and sum problems
- 1089 problem - http://www.mathsisfun.com/1089.html
- 1089 and a property of 3-digit numbers - http://www.cut-the-knot.org/Curriculum/Arithmetic/S1089.shtml
- Mathematical magic tricks: The 1089 problem - http://www.numericana.com/answer/magic.htm#1089
Chapter 4: Arks and Tarks
- Missionaries and cannibals problem - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Missionaries_and_cannibals_problem
- The river crossing puzzle - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/River_crossing_puzzle
- Tricky crossings - https://www.sciencenews.org/article/tricky-crossings
Chapter 5: The farmyard problem
- The farmyard problem - http://nzmaths.co.nz/problem-solving-strategies#The Farmyard Problem
Chapter 6: The 12 game
- Game theory - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_theory
- Blackjack - http://www.pagat.com/banking/blackjack.html
- Pontoon - http://www.pagat.com/banking/pontoon.html
- Nim games - http://illuminations.nctm.org/Activity.aspx?id=4221
Part 2: Measurement and Geometry
Chapter 7: Classroom shapes
- Polyhedron net animations - http://www.mathsisfun.com/geometry/polyhedron-net-animations.html
- Pyramids - http://www.mathsisfun.com/geometry/pyramids.html
- Pyramid animations - https://www.mathsisfun.com/definitions/pyramid.html
- The Dubai Pyramid - http://inhabitat.com/ziggurat-dubai-carbon-neutral-pyramid-will-house-1-million/
- The Louvre Pyramid - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louvre_Pyramid
- The Shrine of Remembrance - http://www.shrine.org.au/The-S...
Chapter 8: Jenny's jelly bean problem
- Maximum volume of a lidless box - http://jwilson.coe.uga.edu/EMAT6680Su09/Park/As12dspark/As12dspark.html
Chapter 9: Horrible Hal’s humungous hall
- Tessellation - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tessellation
- The Alhambra - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Tassellatura_alhambra.jpg
- MS Escher - http://www.mcescher.com/Galler...
Part 3: Statistics and Probability
Chapter 10: The longest name
- Chinese names - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_name
- Sri Lankan names - http://www.babynology.com/sri-... (Link inactive)
- German names - http://www.babynamescountry.com/origins/popular_german_baby_names1.html
- English names - http://www.babynamescountry.com/origins/popular_english_baby_names1.html
- French names - http://expat-friendly.com/?Top...
- Top baby names in 2011 for Australia - http://www.kidspot.com.au/baby...
- Top baby names in 2011 for England - http://www.kidspot.com.au/baby...
- Top baby names in 2011 for the United States - http://www.kidspot.com.au/baby...
- Top baby names in France - http://expat-friendly.com/?Top...
- Top 20 pet names - http://www.bowwow.com.au/find-...
- Pet name search - http://www.bowwow.com.au/find-a-name-for-your-pet/pet-name-search.aspx
Chapter 11: Penny’s Pet Shop
- No way José - http://www.nzmaths.co.nz/resource/no-way-jose?parent_node=
- Lonely pig - http://www.nzmaths.co.nz/resource/lonely-pig?parent_node=
Chapter 12: The teddies’ race
- That's not fair - http://www.nzmaths.co.nz/resource/thats-not-fair?parent_node
- Dice roller - https://www.random.org/dice/
- Dice roller - http://www.roll-dice-online.co...
- Dice roller - https://www.random.org/playing-cards/
Additional sites
- Maths 300 - https://maths300.com
- NRICH - http://nrich.maths.org/
- NZ Maths - http://nzmaths.co.nz
- AMSI TIMES (The Improving Mathematics Education in Schools) modules - http://schools.amsi.org.au/times-modules/