5 Fun Maths Activities for Children aged 5-6 years Using CONNETIX

By Jessica Chu

5 maths activities for 5-6 year olds

There are many ways to incorporate number, shape and measurement into everyday life, here are a few simple activities to develop understanding of these mathematical concepts. Each activity takes less than five minutes to set up and are aimed at young children around 5-6 years old.

1. Fill in the missing number

From a young age, children start to notice patterns in their everyday life, whether that be colours on a striped jumper or shapes on a rug. They begin by identifying simple and repetitive patterns, and move on to recognising more complex growing patterns, such as skip counting.

Skip counting is repeated addition where a particular number is added on to the previous number to build a growing pattern. Children usually begin to skip count by 2s, 5s and 10s. We can demonstrate how skip counting can be a quicker and more efficient way to count in everyday life, particularly where there is a large a group of objects. For example, if we have to count lots of marbles, rather than counting them one by one, we can place them into groups of five to quickly skip count to the total.

This activity invites children to fill in the missing numbers within a number pattern, helping to develop confidence in skip counting, writing and reading numbers. It also builds their understanding of how skip counting (repeated addition) and multiplication relate.

Activity: using a chalk marker, write down number patterns while leaving some tiles blank. You can modify the activity by doing some backwards skip counting too!

photo labyrinths.and.lovehearts

2. Measuring height

Children often begin to talk about length by using the words “long”, “short” and “tall”. They can describe and compare the length of items before they even learn to measure e.g. “I am shorter than my brother” or “the blue pencil is longer than the red pencil”.

We can extend skills in measurement by providing children with a base unit to measure length. Before they use a ruler and formal units (centimetres, metres and kilometres) we can model measuring length using uniform informal units. This can be anything that are of an equal size, such as paddle pop sticks, paperclips or CONNETIX.

Our square tiles are perfect for teaching how to measure length without gaps or overlaps as they attach to each other. Using everyday toys such as CONNETIX makes it more relatable to children and provides a tangible, hands-on learning experience. Once children gain confidence measuring with informal units, they will have a better foundation to move to formal units, such as measuring length with a ruler.

Activity: stand beside the corner of the wall and invite children to estimate, measure and compare the heights of family members using CONNETIX as the uniform informal unit. Ask them to visualise and estimate how many tiles they think each person’s height will be before measuring. As they measure, guide them to align the magnetic tiles in a straight line and count how many tiles are needed.

3. Area robots

As children play with toys such as CONNETIX, they start to notice the size and shape of their builds, how the tiles fit together, and the length and width of their structures. They learn about area through play and experiment before they learn to use formal units (cm² or m²) and multiply the length by the width of a shape. At this early stage, we can focus on measurement vocabulary and informal measuring units as they investigate through trial and error.

To demonstrate that area is the amount of space within the perimeter of a 2D shape, model counting the number of square units inside a plane shape. Shape building and measuring activities will help to build a deep understanding of measurement and geometry before children transition to formal measuring tools.

Activity: design a robot on grid paper using the CONNETIX colours. Once the drawing is complete, build the robot with CONNETIX. To find the surface area of the robot, count the tiles used to make it. If right-angled triangles are used, it is a great opportunity to talk about “halves” (fractions) too!

4. Multiplication City

When we think of multiplication, we might just think of timetables. Rather than rote memorisation of the timetables, a better strategy is to show children the relationship between multiplication and addition. We can introduce multiplication by demonstrating skip counting, repeated addition, arrays (rows and columns) and equal groups. Relatable examples we see on a day-to-day basis include rows of chairs and arrays in a chocolate bar.

To make multiplication meaningful and relevant, we can model how we use it as a more efficient way of problem-solving. For example, to calculate the number of donuts in a box, it is faster to multiply the number of rows by columns than to count each donut one by one. As children develop their understanding, they will start to recognise that 3 boxes of 10 pencils may look like 10 + 10 + 10 = 30 pencils. We can show them that 3 x 10 = 30 is another way of writing the mathematical equation.

Activity: write a multiplication number sentence (e.g. 2×3) and children can make a 2D tower to represent that equation (e.g. 2 rows of 3 columns). It will look like a ‘multiplication city’ of apartments.

5. 3D shapes build

We are surrounded by 3D shapes in our home, outside and everywhere we look! Some are regular shapes that we can easily name, such as cubes, spheres, cones, pyramids and prisms. To extend shape knowledge, we can use CONNETIX to make these shapes and identify their properties i.e. how many faces, vertices and edges each one has. By building 3D shapes, children can form mental images of the shapes from different viewpoints and develop spatial awareness.

Activity: find some 3D items around the home that can be replicated with the various CONNETIX shapes. Invite children to build the shape of those items using CONNETIX. Here are the household items we used:

Tissue box (rectangular prism)
Sharpener (triangular prism)
Rubix cube (cube)
Origami pyramid (triangular pyramid)
Hexagonal cushion (hexagonal prism)

I hope you feel inspired by these easy to set up Math activities for young children. Please share your version on Facebook or Instagram by tagging @connetix_tiles!

Jessica Chu

Jess is a primary school teacher turned stay at home mum. She has 5 children ranging from 8 months old to 7 years old. Jess believes learning happens naturally through play. She has intentionally curated open-ended toys in her home to foster creativity, a love for play and a desire for learning.

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