Class 1 Activities

You need

• ✓10 buttons total — in 2 different colours
• ✓A 'number bond' house drawn on paper (a triangle with two circles at the bottom)
• ✓Pencil to record each bond

How to do it

1. 1Draw the number bond house: a triangle with '10' at the top, two circles at the bottom for the two parts.
2. 2Put all 10 buttons in one hand. Move 1 to the other. '1 and 9 make 10.' Record in the circles.
3. 3Move another button across: '2 and 8 make 10.' Record.
4. 4Continue through all combinations: 3+7, 4+6, 5+5, 6+4, 7+3, 8+2, 9+1, 0+10.
5. 5Ask: 'Do you notice anything? 3+7 and 7+3 both make 10 — that is the commutative property!'
6. 6Play 'Quick Flash': show 6 buttons of one colour — 'How many more to make 10?' Child says '4' instantly.

You need

• ✓2 chapatis or large flat rotis (or circular pieces of paper)
• ✓A plate
• ✓A knife (parent use only) or scissors for paper version

How to do it

1. 1Place a chapati on the plate. Ask: 'If we share this equally between two people, what do we do?'
2. 2Fold in half and cut. 'Each piece is called one half. Two halves make one whole.'
3. 3Fold the other chapati into quarters (fold in half, then in half again). Cut.
4. 4Ask: 'How many quarters make one whole? How many quarters make one half?'
5. 5Arrange pieces to show: 1 whole = 2 halves = 4 quarters.
6. 6Write the fractions: ½ and ¼. 'This is how we write one half.'
7. 7Eat together — maths is delicious.

You need

• ✓A magnifying glass (or a phone camera zoomed in)
• ✓A notebook with blank pages
• ✓A pencil
• ✓A drop of sugar water near an anthill (to attract ants)

How to do it

1. 1Find an ant trail — near the kitchen, garden, or footpath.
2. 2Place a small drop of sugar water nearby. Observe for 5 minutes as ants find and respond to it.
3. 3Watch silently together. Point out: the direction ants travel, how they communicate (touching antennae), how they carry items.
4. 4In the notebook: draw what you saw. Label the ant parts you can see: head, thorax, abdomen, antennae, 6 legs.
5. 5Write 2–3 sentences: 'I saw ants walking in a line. They were carrying crumbs. They touched each other with their feelers.'
6. 6Return the next day and observe again. Did the trail change?

You need

• ✓A 1-litre plastic bottle (straight sides, not curved)
• ✓A ruler and permanent marker
• ✓Small pebbles (to weigh the bottle down)
• ✓A notebook for daily recording

How to do it

1. 1Cut the bottle about one-third from the top. Invert the top and place it inside the base (funnel position).
2. 2Add pebbles to the base for stability.
3. 3Mark centimetre graduations on the side with a ruler and permanent marker.
4. 4Place outside in an open area before rain is expected.
5. 5After rain: read the measurement and record in the notebook with the date.
6. 6Track for 2 weeks. Ask: 'Which day had the most rain? The least? Can we make a bar graph?'

You need

• ✓A large sheet of paper (A3 or two A4 sheets taped together)
• ✓Pencil, ruler
• ✓Crayons for colouring different rooms
• ✓Compass or phone compass app to find North

How to do it

1. 1Walk through the home together, counting rooms and noting their layout.
2. 2Find North using the phone compass. Mark N on the paper.
3. 3Draw the outer boundary of the home — the walls.
4. 4Add each room, roughly to scale. Label them: kitchen, bedroom, bathroom.
5. 5Add furniture in each room as small rectangles.
6. 6Add a North arrow and a simple key (e.g., blue = bathroom, yellow = kitchen).
7. 7Find your home on Google Maps and compare the satellite view to their drawing.

You need

• ✓Cardboard boxes (cereal boxes, shoe boxes)
• ✓Toilet rolls, paper rolls
• ✓Old newspapers and foil
• ✓Masking tape and PVA glue
• ✓Poster paints
• ✓Bottle caps, buttons for details

How to do it

1. 1Ask: 'What would you like to build — a robot? An animal? A vehicle? A house?'
2. 2Collect materials and plan: 'What will be the body? What will be the head?'
3. 3Tape boxes together to form the basic structure.
4. 4Add details: toilet rolls as legs, crumpled foil as a tail, bottle caps as eyes.
5. 5Paint and decorate. Let it dry completely before handling.
6. 6Name the creation and write a 2–3 sentence story about it.