Summer Maths Activities: Free Resource For School Holidays(Year 3 to Year 6)

January 17, 2024 | 2 min read

David Leighton

Get our new KS2 resource packed full of summer holiday maths activities. This free time saver pack contains lots of fun maths challenges and investigations for pupils going into Year 3, Year 4, Year 5 and Year 6. Perfect for your KS2 summer holiday homework.

As any teacher who has sat through a parents evening will know, one of the best questions you can be asked by a parent is “what can I do to help them at home?”. Parental involvement has been shown to have a significant effect on educational achievement and this is especially true in Maths.

KS2 Don't Forget Your Maths Challenges

A fun, printable set of 80 KS2 Maths challenges & investigations for Year 3, 4, 5, 6 to complete over the holidays

Download Free Now!

Summer maths activities to prevent the summer brain drain

However, when it comes to maths, it can be harder for parents and carers to know how to explore the subject, develop key skills and engage their children.

As the summer holidays loom ahead we are all aware of the risk of the summer slide and in primary maths the effects can be significant.

This year you can do something about it. We’ve created not just one but four different packs of Year 3, Year 4, Year 5, Year 6 summer holiday maths activities.

Year 3 Holiday Maths Pack
Year 4 Holiday Maths Pack
Year 5 Holiday Maths Pack
Year 6 Holiday Maths Pack

Alternatively if you’re a KS2 lead or SLT, you’ll probably want the entire set: the Don’t Forget Your Maths Pack of KS2 Holiday Maths Challenges

How to use the summer maths activities

Each homework pack of activities has been designed for families to be able to do together over the summer holidays. There are 20 KS2 holiday maths challenges in each pack, some of which have associated holiday maths worksheets suitable for Years 3, 4, 5 or 6.

We’re recommending children tackle at least 10 of these maths investigations over the 6-8 weeks. Some of the holiday maths activities they can do alone, some involve a sibling, parent, carer or other partner to help them complete the challenge.

Children about to enter KS2 for the first time may need more help but it’s a good opportunity for carers and children to set expectations together of how they’re going to adjust to the Year 3 maths curriculum.

You could also of course recommend pupils follow a weekly holiday maths homework programme where they aim to do one or two holiday maths challenges every week. Regularity and routine is key to keeping children’s enthusiasm for this kind of additional maths activity.

Curriculum focused KS2 holiday maths packs

Each of the summer holiday maths homework activities has been developed to cover the full range of curriculum content your child will have learnt in the preceeding year.

– the Year 3 Holiday Maths Pack practises the skills and knowledge from Year 2 maths curriculum

– the Year 4 Holiday Maths Pack practises the skills and knowledge from Year 3

– the Year 5 Holiday Maths Pack practises the skills and knowledge from Year 4

– the Year 6 Holiday Maths Pack practises the skills and knowledge from Year 5.

There are holiday maths challenges on every KS2 maths topic from place value, times tables and measurement to shapes, angles. And all have been designed to be fun and enjoyable family maths activities to do together. There’s even a spot of code breaking!

Don’t forget to download these KS2 holiday maths packs and hand them out at school before you break for the summer! Not long now!

Looking for more? Try these event based ks2 maths problem solving investigations, some summer holiday maths investigations or more fun KS1 and KS2 maths activities.

Here’s our complete list of topical maths investigations for year 5 and year 6.

Autumn Term maths investigations year 6 and year 5

Spring Term maths investigations year 6 and year 5

Summer term maths investigations year 6 and year 5

And if that’s not enough we’ve even got maths activities for Year 5 and Year 6 for events you’re likely to celebrate in primary school but don’t come round every year…

DO YOU HAVE PUPILS WHO NEED MORE SUPPORT IN MATHS?

Every week Third Space Learning’s maths specialist tutors support thousands of students across hundreds of schools with weekly primary school tuition designed to plug gaps and boost progress.

Since 2013 these personalised one to one lessons have helped over 150,000 primary and secondary students become more confident, able mathematicians.

Learn about the emphasis on building a positive maths mindset or request a personalised quote for your school to speak to us about your school’s needs and how we can help.