This is a keen favourite with students of all ages and levels! Students that enjoy maths at school will love it, but it can also be helpful for students that can find maths difficult. You can use it to help support them in their maths studies, so needless to say, parents will love that you are simultaneously helping them with their maths!
Instructions
Make the big number at the top using the notes and rests provided. You can use addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, brackets etc. You can only use each note/rest once!
Benefits
I really enjoy doing this activity with students because as well as working out the sums or timetables etc involved, the student has to develop a path themselves to get them to the number. It requires much more initiative then just working out a sum. Though a solution might be really clear to you, try to resist temptation to spell it out. See if you can very gently ask prompting questions i.e. ‘what times tables have that number in?’ and let them make mistakes! It is such an important life skill for them to learn and they might need to apply some good quality problem solving.
These little games during lessons can have a real impact on their mathematical skills, I have had countless students and parents comment on how their maths has been improving since doing piano lessons!
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