Cryptography Challenge
Five exhibits at National Museum of Scotland have been written in code! Can you use your code breaking skills to find out what they are?
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Maths Games & Activities for the Beach
Oh we do like to be beside the seaside... Keep up your maths over the summer holidays, with our fun games and activities to do at the beach.
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Ancient Egyptian maths resources
Best suited for First Level
These ancient Egyptian maths worksheets are designed to explore maths and ancient Egypt.
- Count Like An Ancient Egyptian: Explore how ancient Egyptians wrote and used numbers.
- Pyramid stones: Discover how huge stones were moved across Egypt to build the pyramids.
- The Rhind papyrus: Try to crack this real ancient Egyptian maths problem.
Created by National Museums Scotland
Women in Maths
Women in Maths Day (12 May) celebrates female mathematicians around the world. We interviewed women for whom maths is at the core of their job.
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Maths Outdoors: 30 Days Wild
We love taking our maths outdoors, so we've come up with 30 fun ideas to do together as a family, that will get you active in nature and incorporate some maths along the way. Complete with downloadable calendar of ideas, and a set of 30 activity 'cards'.
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BBC Rainbow Quizzes
Best suited for First Level
The Rainbow Quiz is a set of audio quizzes for First Level classes, presented by BBC Scotland's Catriona Shearer.
Escape Room
You'll need logic, numeracy sklls and your wits about you to escape Lochdonia Manor. Work your way through the rooms, find the codes and defeat the guard!
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Busy Things: Wild Maths
Best suited for First Level
Busy Things highlight three of their engaging activities for Maths Week Scotland 2025, along with one of their teacher tools, which will support you when celebrating maths in nature.
‘Flowers’ is a Maths activity that explores symmetry. Pupils choose one of the four flower templates to decorate, and can use a whole range of colours, textures and stamps to do so. Want to extend the activity and make it wilder? Print out the Busy Things’ template and ask the children to create a symmetrical flower head using natural materials from the playground or park, like sticks and leaves.
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Spring & Easter Puzzles
We've put together a selection of Spring and Easter puzzles covering a range of different maths skills including counting, pattern recognition, logical thinking, code breaking, and using tessellation or symmetry to create designs.
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Path Finding Challenge
Best suited for First Level
Can you find your way along the seashore by following the repeating pattern from START to END? Colour each square in the repeating pattern to mark out the correct path.
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Geometric Heart
A simple but fun maths activity perfect for Valentine's Day. Create a geometric heart out of squares and triangles, and learn about patterns, fractions and multiplication along the way.
Maths Outdoors
In 2020, Maths Week Scotland ran an online training session with Juliet Robertson on delivering Outdoor Maths sessions with early years and primary school aged pupils. You can download the resources from the session here.
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Finn Finity and the Wild Maths Zoo Adventure
Best suited for First and Second Level
Read the interactive story together, set at Edinburgh Zoo, and solve the maths puzzles and challenges along the way. Includes teachers pack with supporting notes, slideshow and more.
Instructions
How does the interactive mystery work? Read the instructions to get started!
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Shape Mice
Celebrate Burns Night with our fun shape activity, in honour of one of Robert Burns' most well known poems, 'To a Mouse'. Cut out shapes of different sizes from coloured paper or card, and arrange them to create mice. What other shapes can you use? How about a pentagon or a hexagon mouse?
Mindset Maths through Golf
From pars to handicaps, wind speed to distance, ball trajectory to the slant of the green, almost every aspect of golf relies on numerical calculation.
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Wild Maths Games & Activities
Best suited for First and Second Level
This 20-page booklet, developed by Dumfries and Galloway Outdoor and Woodland Learning Group (DGOWL) with grant funding from Maths Week Scotland, is packed with games and activities to help families engage with maths outdoors together and can also be used by schools. The activities are suitable for both Level 2 as well as Level 1 learners.
Prologue
In the Prologue, we set the scene for our story. Find out what mystery Finn has to solve!
>> Download Prologue
>> Download Museum Map
>> Download List of Suspects
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Pancake Maths
We love baking here at Maths Week Scotland, and pancakes are no different. Find out how much maths is involved in baking, have a go at our fun maths facts activities, and download our recipe to bake your own yummy pancakes at home.
Science Skills Academy Outdoor Activity Cards
Find the height of trees, practice data collection and enjoy ladder games with these activity cards from Science Skills Academy. These 17 activities can be carried out in a range of outdoor spaces with minimal equipment and are closely linked with the Curriculum for Excellence.
Navigating Our World
Navigating Our World is a workshop developed by the Learning and Engagement Team at Dynamic Earth to highlight the maths in the world around us.
Chapter 1
Finn Finity is on the case and has to solve his first puzzle!
>> Download Chapter 1
>> Download Puzzle 1
>> Download Puzzle 1 (simplified)
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Scavenger Shape Hunt
A scavenger hunt is a great way to get out and about AND have some fun with maths. Go on a Shape Hunt, looking for how many different shapes you can find in your neighbourhood. Why not document what you find and share your photographs with us online!
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Royal Institution Maths Activities
Best suited for First and Second Level
Soap bubbles, paper folding, computers and bridges are all inspiration for these Primary School maths activity ideas from the Royal Institution.