17 Free Back to School Math Activities To Get Students Excited About Math and More…

Are you looking for great Back to School, First Days of School, Summer Camp, or Summer School math activities? … Keep Reading!

The Beginning of the Year is around the corner. As we all know, first impressions are everything. You want your students to be excited for a year full of growth and learning, so let your students be crafty with Math, Getting to Know You, and Team Building activities. 

My favorite math activities for the back to school season:

1. Go over Math Class Rules in a Fun Way.

FREE Math Doodles: Mistakes Allow Thinking to Happen! Use this printable version to introduce your expectations for a powerful start to the year. 

Students can color or doodle it as they want, and glue it into their notebook.

2. Let Them Get to Know Each Other using Math Glyph.

FREE Math About Me Fibonacci Golden Spiral. Students write facts about themselves, like how many siblings they have, and then create math equations whose results equal their answers to the facts. The next step is to create a colorful "Golden Spiral" based on their answers and the glyph directions. Then another student has to solve the problems and find the name of the person.

This is a fun way for kids to get to know each other and to review math skills. It can be differentiated to your grade level in math depending on the subject of the equations you choose (e.g. addition, decimals, roots...). Here’s a free print & go resource for this activity. Check out the video here.

3. Check out this Figure Me Out Hexaflexagon hands-on activity.

I love this FREE STEAM icebreaker for math classes. Students create math equations whose results equal their answers to facts about themselves, and a colorful Hexaflexagon based on their answers and the glyph directions. 

Everyone will receive a different person’s page to solve the problems and discover the name of the person they have information about. 

This is a fun way for kids to get to know each other and to review math skills. It can be differentiated to your grade level in math depending on the subject of the equations you choose (e.g. addition, decimals, roots...). Check it out here.

Check out the video here.

4. Play a math game.

Check out this amazing Get To Know You Math Game with 68 “Facts about you in numbers” cards and 24 Math subject cards (they provide easy differentiation, so you can only choose cards suited to your grade level). Students write facts about themselves, and then create math equations whose results equal their answers to the facts. The second person or team has to find their answer. 

The next game is The Risk. You can easily create a customized version of this game with your own questions. There are 24 Question Task Cards (they are divided into 4 groups of questions worth either 1, 2, 3, or 4 points), Life Preserver cards, and Bonus Points cards (x2, x3, x4). 

If your answer is correct, you or your team will earn whatever the question is worth. You can use a Bonus Points Card to multiply your points for this question by a chosen rate. If your answer is wrong, your team will lose whatever the question is worth, or whatever the question is worth multiplied by the chosen rate if you used a Bonus Points Card. 

FREE Area Model Multiplication Game. Check this fun Math Game to practice Multiplication Facts to 10 using an area model to understand the concept of multiplication.

You need two 1-10 dice for each pair of students. You can differentiate this game by changing the set of dice (1-6).

5. Create a Collaborative Display.

FREE Collaborative Math and Art Bulletin Board Project: Perfect Squared Square. Is it possible to create one large square from 21 different squares? Students can combine this puzzle with creating a beautiful collaborative Perfect Squared Square to make a mural, door decoration, or bulletin board display. 

This project includes 3 versions:

#1 Each student draws one of the 21 different squares with the lengths of the sides given in the table.

#2 Students cut out 21 squares with the text "Individually unique, together complete." or "Everyone is different, and together we can create something beautiful."

#3 Squares without text. 

If you have a different number of students, you can distribute these 21 squares as you like or use 2-3 different versions of Squared Squares if you have more than 21 students. Students color and cut out their squares (they can add patterns) and arrange them into 1 big 112x112 square. Here’s a free print & go resource for this activity. 

6. Try also this Collaborative Math and Art Project: Op Art Hearts Drawing.

Create a geometric heart from a square and halves of a circle, choose an op art style, and combine 13, 27, or 46 of these hearts into 1 big heart to make a mural, door decoration, or bulletin board display. 

Here’s a FREE print & go template for this activity. Check out the video here.

7. Explore Symmetry with Names.

Create your Name Symmetry Art. Check out this video on how to create a Radial Symmetry design using a student name. 

Here is an easier option: Symmetrical Name Creatures. Students can use reflective symmetry to create a unique creature using their name. 

Fold the paper lengthwise in half. On one side of the fold write your big name with the bottom sitting on the fold. Make the pencil lines dark. Create the mirror image, open it up, and design your creature.

8. Create Colorful Name Tags.

Measuring and classifying angles created by the letters of your name. If your students don't like geometry, be sure to check out this FREE geometry project. Check out the video here.

Students can also use grid paper to design their names in Pixels and calculate the area of their names.

 For more advanced students, you can use this project: Area of Composite Figures One-Point Perspective Name. Students have to think about how to design their name so that they can later divide it into figures, which they know how to calculate the area of, like squares, rectangles, rhombuses, parallelograms, triangles, trapezoids, and circles. Check out the video here.

9. Build fractals.

Draw Sierpinski Triangle Fractal on triangular isometric paper. You can use this FREE template and start with drawing an equilateral triangle with a side of 24 units. 

Divide this large triangle into 4 new triangles by connecting the midpoint of each side. Ignoring the middle triangle that you just created, apply the same procedure to each of the three corner triangles. Repeat.

You can also check out my other fractal projects: Koch Snowflake (video),

  Pythagoras Tree,

 or Get To Know You Sierpinski Carpet Fractal (video).

10. Tessellations.

You can use my FREE templates: Fall Leaf Tessellation, 

Stars Tessellation, 

or Use this Newfound Mathematical ‘Einstein’ Shape in your classroom! 

Each student cuts out and colors their own part. Everyone's pieces perfectly connect together to make a mural, door decoration, or bulletin board display.

11. Create your own Fruit Salad with this Decimals & Money Project Based Learning activity.

If you want your math lessons to be an unforgettable experience for your students, be sure to check out this FREE math enrichment project. Students will take part in a competition for the best fruit salad. They have to use their imagination to impress the judges, but they have to remember that they have a limited budget. They will virtually go to the market to buy fruits to make their salad according to their budget and requirements. Then they will decide on a salad name and draw their salad. 

You can download it here. If you like this mini project, check out more here.

12. Check out this Percentages of Me Math & Art Project.

Introduce or review finding the percent of a number with this engaging activity! You can choose 1 of 3 options: "Character Traits", "Food and Drink" or "My Day", or you can use an empty template and set any rules you want. Students must color the pixel figure according to their choices of percentages and character traits (or food & drink, or activities) that describe them, ensuring their percentages add up to 100%. 

They must convert each percentage to fraction and decimal and calculate how many squares they need to color in with the selected color to cover a certain percentage of the figure for each choice. Find more math & art projects here. Check out the video here.

13. Create Math Scratch-Off Tickets.

My FREE template is prepared for A4 paper and 2 x 2 cm squares. I bought my scratch-off stickers on Amazon. You have to check the size of your scratch-off stickers and you can change each square size in this template. 

They are easily editable if needed, or just use my print & go integers version! Check out the video here.

14. Use this “Am I like π?” Project with your High Schoolers.

This activity can be used in High School, but also in Middle School. It includes a Polar Grid (Polar Coordinates), but students don't need to know it to complete this task. Students graph and connect the points where the indicated line and the circle number that corresponds to each digit of Pi intersect.

Then, they read the π-statements and graph points depending on how much they agree with each statement. As a result, they have 2 graphs: Pi and their own. Each student's result will have a unique shape. Students can color "Am I like π?" graphs however they like. Check out the video here.

FREE Create your own round version of Pi city skyline.

15. Transform your classroom into an Escape Room.

You can use this FREE fraction cipher decoder to encode a message for your students or they can send messages to each other. 

If you want to have a print & go resource with little prep, check out my Time Machine Escape Rooms (Exponent Rules or Fractions). Scientists from a nearby university were testing a prototype of a time machine. You volunteered to test the prototype and travel in time to the future. 

BUT there was a problem! While traveling through time, scientists have uncovered a glitch and now you're stuck in a time loop in math class, and if you don't do anything, you'll stay here forever (in the math lesson). As a result of the glitch, the present was mixed up with the past.

You need to focus on the elements from the past, because they will allow you to discover the clues.

16. Amaze students with the magic of math.

Check out the video “How do you turn 2 circles into 1 square with only two cuts?” 

and the Mobius Strip Magic video.

17. Check out these Outdoor Math Activities.

This engaging outdoor math project is a great team competition and is available in 3 versions: #1 for 1st and 2nd Grade, #2 for 3rd and 4th Grade, or with Percentages. 

Get your class outside to combine movement, fun, and math. This resource includes 6 stations’ worksheets for students ready to be printed. A scoring table is included. For each correct answer, the team gets 1 point, and for each wrong answer loses 1 point.

Create a treasure map! How to make paper look old and dirty? Check out this video 😀

<<SPECIAL OFFER FOR YOU>> If you want your math lessons to be an unforgettable experience for your students, be sure to check out this BUNDLE. Middle School Math: 45 Project Based Learning Activities and Math & Art Projects. Save 35% by purchasing this bundle! Each project is only $1.83!

Remember to enter your email to subscribe to Inspire Math Matematyka!

*We respect your privacy - Privacy Policy.