See Christmas Resources for the always updated Christmas collection.
Remember we have the wonderful collection of Advent Calendars to use in the run up to Christmas. I was amused at a comment from Plus Magazine regarding the inclusion of cute kittens wherever possible! Behind Door 1 of their 2019 advent calendar you will find the story of a rather important cat: Schrödinger’s cat!
Some further additions to the Christmas 2019 collection…
From the ATM for younger children, Midwinter Mathematics is a downloadable collection of mathematical activities, problem-solving and investigations that are suitable for the winter term for Primary Classrooms. Check ‘Look Inside’ for two free activities, Christmas Stockings where children can think about systematic listing strategies by working out the number of arrangements of Christmas Stockings and Paper Chains, a practical task where children use a piece of A4 paper to make the longest paper chain they can.
On the subject of paper chains, with a twist on the relay idea this TES resource, Chrismas Paper Chains, has students racing to make the longest Christmas paper chain.
Available from STEM Learning, Winter Mathematics from the Shropshire Centre for Mathematics education consists of twenty eight winter-themed activities for younger students (ages 5-11). The collection consists of a variety of investigations, puzzles and games covering many aspects of mathematics.
Also available on STEM Learning, see Christmas Puzzles; The National Centre for Excellence in the Teaching of Mathematics (NCETM) published four seasonal puzzles from Amusements in Mathematics by Henry Ernest Dudeney, published in 1917, in their Secondary magazine. I have mentioned Henry Ernest Dudeney’s – Amusements in Mathematics before (see Free Books), the Kindle edition is free. Several categories of puzzles are available. A search on Christmas returned 23 puzzles, solutions are all provided.
I often mention the Perton Maths Department, check #PertonChristmaths for their seasonal Challenge collection.
MEI’s November / December 2017 M4 Magazine has been mentioned in the 2019 collection ( an excellent collection of 10 puzzles and challenges for your students with full teacher notes and solutions). Additionally, we have MEI’s November Primary Newsletter which includes some fun festive puzzles for Primary students.
Puzzles
From Matthew Scroggs have a look at mscroggs.co.uk for a wonderful collection of puzzles including Advent and Christmas themed puzzles. Try Matthew’s Christmas Card 2019 with its nine puzzles – a great card for your mathematical friends!
Year 13 will get that card this week, thank you Matthew!
For your A level students, Tom Bennison has a brilliant resource – Christmas Calculated Colouring.
Sign up to the IMA e16plus Newsletter which is aimed at 16 – 19 year olds who are interested in mathematics and check the latest edition which includes two competitions to enter over the Christmas break as well as various Christmas puzzles and articles.