30 Days

of Maths
Activities
30 Days of Maths Activity List
Challenge yourself to do a maths activity every day for 30 days.

1. Lagrange’s Four-Square Theorem 16. Dodecahedron

2. Numberpillars 17. Data Collection

3. Measurement Scavenger Hunt 18. The Number 4

4. Water, Water, Water! 19. It’s All in the Cards

5. Tangram Challenge 20. Polygon Challenge

6. Dot and Line Challenge 21. Reaction Times

7. Handshake Challenge 22. Flags

8. How Many Days? 23. Square Challenge

9. How Many Squares? 24. Make 6

10. Grand Design 25. Bearings

11. The Fibonacci Golden Spiral 26. Flower of Life

12. The 4 Coins Invention 27. Spirolateral

13. Four Fours 28. A Day in London

14. In the Garden 29. Mathematicians

15. Pythagoras’ Theorem in Real Life 30. Maths Photo Scavenger Hunt

1 30 Days of Maths Activities

30 Days of Maths Calendar
Use this calendar to record which activity you complete each day.

1. 2. 3. 4.

5. 6. 7. 8.

9. 10. 11. 12.

13. 14. 15. 16.

17. 18. 19. 20.

21. 22. 23. 24.

25. 26. 27. 28.

29. 30.

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 30 Days of Maths Activities
Activity 1: Lagrange’s Four-Square Theorem
You Will Need:
• A pen or pencil
• A calculator

Instructions:
Lagrange’s theorem states that every positive integer can be made by adding four square numbers
together. For example, 7 is made by 22 + 12 + 12 + 12 (or 4 + 1 + 1 + 1).

Your task is to find eight different ways to make 214 using Lagrange’s theorem.

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.

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 30 Days of Maths Activities
Activity 2: Numberpillars
You Will Need:
• A pen or pencil

Instructions:
Your task is to find the number with the most ‘links’.

Rules:
• Start with any positive number less than 100.
• If the number is even, then halve it.
• If the number is odd, add 1 and then halve it.
• Carry on until you get to the number 1.

Example:
• Start with any positive number less than 100: 10
• If the number is even, then halve it: 10 ÷ 2 = 5
• If the number is odd, add 1 and then halve it: 5 + 1 = 6, then 6 ÷ 2 = 3
• The answer is odd, so you must add 1 and then halve it again: 3 + 1 = 4, then 4 ÷ 2 = 2
• If the number is even, then halve it: 2÷1=1

The number 10 has five links: 10, 5, 3, 2, 1.

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 30 Days of Maths Activities
Activity 3: Measurement Scavenger Hunt
You Will Need:
• A pen or pencil
• A ruler or tape measure

Instructions:
This challenge can be completed inside or outside. Fill in the table by either writing down the
name of or drawing an object which matches each criterion.

Find an object that is 1cm Find an object that is 5cm Find an object that is
in length. in length. 60mm in length.

Find an object that is 1 Find an object that holds Find an object that weighs
metre in length. 500ml. 0.5kg.

Find an object that is 2 Find an object that is 25cm Find an object that weighs
inches in length. in length. 400g.

Find an object that is 3 Find an object that is as Find an object that is

feet in length. long as your arm. 15mm in length.

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 30 Days of Maths Activities
Activity 4: Water, Water, Water!
You Will Need:
• A pen or pencil

Instructions:
Solve the following problem:
You have an 8-litre bucket filled with water.
You also have an empty 3-litre tub and an empty 5-litre tub.
There are no lines or measuring scales on the bucket or tubs, we simply know their capacities.

How would you measure 4 litres?



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 30 Days of Maths Activities
Activity 5: Tangram Challenge
You Will Need:
• Scissors
• Glue

Instructions:
• Cut out each shape.
• Place the shapes into the square below. All shapes must be placed into the square with no
overlaps. No shape should overhang the square.
• Once you have the shapes in the correct place, stick them down.

10cm

10cm

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 30 Days of Maths Activities
Activity 6: Dot and Line Challenge
You Will Need:
• A pen or pencil
• A ruler

Instructions:
Using 4 straight lines, join up the centre of each dot, without taking your pen or pencil off the piece
of paper. The straight lines may go beyond the dots but you cannot go over existing lines with
your pen or pencil.

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 30 Days of Maths Activities
Activity 7: Handshake Challenge
You Will Need:
• A pen or pencil

Instructions:
If there were 4 people in a group and everybody shook each other’s hand exactly once, how many
handshakes would there be?

Find another 3 people in your household and test your prediction.

• Were you right?
• What would happen if there were fewer people?
• How about more people?

Extension:
Can you find a rule which would help you work out how many handshakes there would be in a
group of 30 people?

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 30 Days of Maths Activities
Activity 8: How Many Days?
You Will Need:
• A pen or pencil

Instructions:
Starting at 1st January 2020 (at 00:00 hours), what will the date be in 2020 days’ time?

Hint:
Assume each year is 365 days (unless a leap year). A leap year occurs once every four years and
means there are 366 days in the year. 2020 is a leap year.

Activity 9: How Many Squares?

You Will Need:
• A pen or pencil

Instructions:
How many squares can you see?

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 30 Days of Maths Activities
Activity 10: Grand Design
You Will Need:
• An A4 piece of paper
• A pen or pencil
• A ruler

Instructions:
Using the scale 1cm = 1m, your task is to design your perfect house! Remember to label your
measurements in metres using the scale factor.

You should think about:

• What you will have in your house.
• The layout – what is going to go where.
• Windows.
• Doors.

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 30 Days of Maths Activities
Activity 11: The Fibonacci Golden Spiral
You Will Need:
• An A4 piece of paper 1 4

• A pen or pencil
• A ruler
• Colouring pencils

2 5
Instructions:
Place your paper so the longest side
is horizontal.
You are going to create squares
using The Fibonacci Sequence.
The length of a side of each shape 3 6
should be equal to a number in the
sequence.
1. Starting towards the bottom
right-hand corner, draw two
1-unit squares on top of each
other. 7
2. Attach a 2-by-2-unit square
to the left of the two 1-unit
squares.
3. Attach a 3-by-3-unit square
directly underneath all the
squares you have drawn so far.
4. Attach a 5-by-5-unit square to
the right of what you have so
far. Did you know?
5. Attach an 8-by-8-unit square
You get the next term in The Fibonacci Sequence by
above your design.
adding the two previous terms together.
6. Attach a 13-by-13-unit square
• For example, the first term in your sequence is 0.
to the left.
• Now add 1 so the second term in your sequence
7. Now you are ready to draw your will be 1.
spiral. For each square, join one
• Now for the third term, add together the previous
corner to the opposite corner in
2 terms so 0 + 1 = 1.
a smooth curve.
• For the fourth term, add together the previous 2
terms so 1 + 1 = 2.

The beginning of the Fibonacci Sequence:

0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55 …

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 30 Days of Maths Activities
Activity 12: The 4 Coins Invention
You Will Need:
• A pen or pencil

Instructions:
You have been asked to create a new coin system. There will only be four coins in this system. You
must be able to create the values 1 to 10 using only one or two coins.
Your task is to work out the possible values for each coin.

Example:
If your four coins had values 1, 2, 3 and 4, you would be able to make the values 1 to 4 with a single
coin, 5 (4 + 1 or 3 + 2), 6 (3 + 3 or 4 + 2), 7 (2 + 3) and 8 (4 + 4) with two coins; however, it would be
impossible to make 9 or 10 with two coins, so this coin system fails.

Activity 13: Four Fours

You Will Need:
• A pen or pencil
• A calculator

Instructions:
Using exactly four 4s, form every integer from 0 to 20.
You may use:
+, –, ×, ÷ , (brackets), ! (for example, 4! Is equivalent to 4 × 3 × 2 × 1) and but you may not simply
place 4s next to each other, for example, you could not create 44 by placing two 4s next to each
other.
0= 7= 14 =
1= 8= 15 =
2= 9= 16 =
3= 10 = 17 =
4= 11 = 18 =
5= 12 = 19 =
6= 13 = 20 =

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 30 Days of Maths Activities
Activity 14: In the Garden
You Will Need:
• A pen or pencil
• A ruler

Instructions:
Go outside into your garden, or on a local walk. Draw/sketch items which are the following shapes:

Sphere Cuboid

Triangle Square

Rectangle Pyramid

Circle Oval

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 30 Days of Maths Activities
Activity 15: Pythagoras’ Theorem in Real Life
You Will Need:
• A pen or pencil
• A tape measure
• A calculator

Instructions:
Pythagoras’ theorem states that the square on the hypotenuse (the longest side, opposite the
right-angle) of a right-angled triangle is equal to the sum of the squares on the other two sides.

We use the formula a2 + b2 = c2 to help us calculate missing lengths in a right-angled triangle.

1. Find a room or object to measure.
2. Measure its length and width.
3. Use Pythagoras’ theorem to calculate the length of its diagonal.

Fill in the table with some examples. You should give your answers correct to 1 decimal place.

Object Length Width Diagonal

Table 2 metres 1 metre a2 + b2 = c2

22 + 12 = 5
5 = 2.236...
2.2 metres

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 30 Days of Maths Activities
Activity 16: Dodecahedron
You Will Need:
• Scissors
• Glue

Instructions:
Cut out the net and score along each of the folds. Fold the net together to make a dodecahedron.

Extension:
Use your assembled dodecahedron to identify the number of faces, edges and vertices.
Faces = Edges = Vertices =

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 30 Days of Maths Activities
Activity 17: Data Collection
You Will Need:
• A pen or pencil
• A ruler
• An A4 piece of graph or squared paper

Instructions:
Your task is to collect data and then present it in a graph of your choice. For example, you could
observe the cars going past the place you live for 15 minutes and record the colour of each car,
or you might want to record the colour of flower petals in a local park. You could then draw a bar
chart to represent the data you have collected.

Activity 18: The Number 4

You Will Need:
• A pen or pencil
• Internet

Instructions:
In English, the word four is exactly four letters long. This is also the case in other languages, for
example, the Dutch word for four is ‘vier’ .

Research more words for four which are also exactly four letters long.

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 30 Days of Maths Activities
Activity 19: It’s all in the Cards
You Will Need:
• A pack of cards
• 4 different coloured counters

Instructions:
1. Take a pack of cards and remove the Jacks, Queens, Kings and any Jokers.
2. Shuffle the remaining cards.
3. Lay all the cards face up on the table in a snake-like shape.

4. Place four different coloured counters on the first four cards in the snake.
5. Move each counter forward the number shown on its card (Aces count as 1).
6. Keep moving each counter until it can’t go any further without going off the end of the snake.

Did your counters all finish on different cards?

Challenge:
Find a way to arrange the cards so that all four counters finish on different cards.

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 30 Days of Maths Activities
Activity 20: Polygon Challenge
You Will Need:
• A pen or pencil
• A ruler

Instructions:
A polygon is a 2D shape formed with straight lines. Triangles, quadrilaterals, pentagons and
hexagons are examples of polygons.

Go outside of the place you live. Look at the building. Identify and label the different polygons you
see.

Extension:
Draw out one of the shapes you have observed and draw the lines of symmetry on the shape.

Identify any relationship you notice between the number of sides and the number of the lines of
symmetry on the shape.

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 30 Days of Maths Activities
Activity 21: Reaction Times
You Will Need:
• A pen or pencil
• A 30cm ruler
• Someone you live with to help you.

Instructions:
1. Ask the person you live with to hold a ruler vertically, with their hand on the bottom end.
2. Hold your hand open below theirs. Be ready to catch the ruler. You should think about how
you can make sure that your hand is placed at the same height each time.
3. Your helper will drop the ruler without warning you. Catch the ruler as fast as you can after
it’s been dropped.
4. Record the number (in centimetres) at which you caught the ruler.
5. Repeat the experiment 10 times, making sure the ruler is being dropped from the same height
each time and that your hand is in the same position each time. You should also catch the
ruler with the same hand throughout.

Record your findings in a table and answer the following questions.

1. What was the mean average level at which you caught the ruler?
2. Was there a pattern to your results?
3. Do reaction times improve with practice?

Extension:
• Repeat the experiment using the opposite hand – how does this affect the results?
• Repeat the experiment with someone of a different age – how does this affect the results?

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 30 Days of Maths Activities
Activity 22: Flags
You Will Need:
• Colouring pencils

Instructions:
1. Choose 3 different colours for your flag.
2. Colour in all the possible combinations of colours your flag can have.
3. You may use a colour more than once on the same flag. For example, blue, blue, blue or blue,
yellow, yellow.
4. There should be no half-sections, blank sections, pictures or symbols etc; each section of the
flag must only consist of one colour.

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 30 Days of Maths Activities
Activity 23: Square Challenge
You Will Need:
• A pencil
• A ruler
• 4 or 5 pieces of A4 paper
• Scissors

Instructions:
1. Draw nine squares with the following side lengths:

1cm 4cm 7cm 8cm 9cm 10cm 14cm 15cm 18cm

2. Cut out the squares.

3. Put them together to form a rectangle. There should be no overlaps and no overhangs.
4. What are the dimensions of your rectangle?

Activity 24: Make 6

You Will Need:
• A pen or pencil

Instructions:
Fill in the gaps with the missing symbols.
You may use:
+, –, ×, ÷, (brackets), !, ^ and .

1 1 1 =6

2 2 2 =6

3 3 3 =6

4 4 4 =6

5 5 5 =6

6 6 6 =6

7 7 7 =6

8 8 8 =6

9 9 9 =6

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 30 Days of Maths Activities
Activity 25: Bearings
You Will Need:
• A pencil
• A ruler
• An A4 piece of paper
• A compass or protractor

Instructions:
Create a trail using bearings. This trail could be in your garden or at a local park. Alternatively,
you could create the trail on a piece of paper by drawing various objects. Write instructions, using
bearings, on how to get from each object to the next.

Example:
Starting location: Bench
1. Go 3 steps on a bearing of 090°.
2. Go 2 steps on a bearing 045°.

Continue on until you reach an end location.

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 30 Days of Maths Activities
Activity 26: Flower of Life
You Will Need:
• A pencil
• A pair of compasses
• A ruler
• An A4 piece of paper
• Colouring pencils

Instructions:
1. Using your ruler, set your pair of compasses 2. On your A4 piece of paper, use the pair
to 3cm. of compasses to draw a circle. You could
draw this circle in the middle of the piece
of paper.

3cm

3. Without changing the width of your pair
of compasses, draw a second circle. The
second circle should be positioned so its
centre lies on the circumference of the first
circle.
4. Repeat with a third circle, positioned so
the centre lies on one of the points of
intersection of the first two circles.

5. Continue to draw circles, all with the same
radius, and all with their centres on a point
of intersection. You can draw as many
circles as you like.
This arrangement of overlapping circles, which
is called the Flower of Life, has appeared in art
for over 2500 years.
You can colour in the circles in a pattern of your
choosing.

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 30 Days of Maths Activities
Activity 27: Spirolateral
You Will Need:
• A pencil
• A protractor
• A ruler
• An A4 piece of paper

Instructions:
1. Draw a straight line, 1cm in length. At one end of the line, measure 36° and draw a straight
line 2cm in length.

2. At the end of that line, measure 36° in the same direction and draw a straight line 3cm in
length.

3. Turn through another 36° and draw another straight line. This time, it should be 5cm in length.
4. Turn through 36° and draw a straight line 2cm in length.
5. Turn through 36° and draw a straight line 3cm in length.
6. Continue to repeat the pattern until you end up at your starting point. For some spirolaterals,
you can ‘spiral’ on forever!

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 30 Days of Maths Activities
Activity 28: A Day in London
You Will Need:
• A pen or pencil
• Internet

Instructions:
You are planning a day trip to London and wish to visit three attractions. You need to plan your
day, including the journey times, how much the journeys will cost, and whether you need a ticket
to see the attraction, as well as how much these might be.

Section 1
1. Choose three attractions in London that you would like to see. Research whether you will
need a ticket and how much these cost.
2. Look at a London Underground map and find the nearest tube station to each attraction.
Think about which zone each tube station is in to work out ticket cost. Decide on a sensible
order in which to visit each attraction.

Section 2
You begin at 09:00 at your first attraction. Write a timetable for the day, clearly showing how long
you will spend at each attraction, as well as any journey and wait times.

You should consider:

• The time you will leave the first attraction;
• How long it will take you to get to the nearest tube station;
• How long the waiting times might be at the tube stations;
• How long the tube journeys might take;
• The wait time at your next attraction.

Section 3
Find the total price for the day, including the price of any tickets to see the attractions as well as
your journeys.

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 30 Days of Maths Activities

Attraction Ticket? Price Order

Timetable:

Price of attractions Price of journeys Total price

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 30 Days of Maths Activities
Activity 29: Mathematicians
You Will Need:
• A pen or pencil
• Internet

Instructions:
Your task is to find out about six famous mathematicians. You might want to think about:
• What their full name was and how long they were alive for;
• When they were alive;
• What they are famous for/what they discovered.

Mathematician Fact 1 Fact 2 Fact 3

Archimedes

Fibonacci

Lovelace

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 30 Days of Maths Activities

Mathematician Fact 1 Fact 2 Fact 3

Pascal

Pythagoras

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 30 Days of Maths Activities
Activity 30: Maths Photo Scavenger Hunt
You Will Need:
• A camera

Instructions:
There are 15 maths-associated words listed below. They might be the name of a topic or an
object. Photograph an example of each word from the list, in the real world.
• Tessellation
• Fibonacci Spiral
• Fractions
• Scales
• Pyramid
• Hexagon
• Parallel lines
• Perpendicular lines
• Triangle
• Mirror image
• Cube
• Calculator
• A graph
• Numbers
• An object which shows time

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