Maths News

Bringing Maths and Footy Together

With footy season well underway, there are so many fun and meaningful ways to bring maths into everyday conversations at home. Using children’s interests to explore mathematical thinking helps build confidence, problem-solving skills and number fluency in a natural and engaging way. Whether you are watching a game together on the weekend, kicking the footy in the backyard or checking the AFL ladder, there are plenty of opportunities to practise maths skills. 

Here are some ideas of activities that you could try at home! 

Skip Counting by 6

In AFL, each goal is worth 6 points, making footy the perfect way to practise skip counting.

You could ask questions like:

• The team kicked 4 goals, what is their score?
• Can you count by 6s to work out 10 goals?
• Which team scored more goals?

Children can practise counting:

6, 12, 18, 24, 30… and so on.

Practise the 6 Times Tables

Use the scoreboard as a real-life maths challenge.

For example:

• 3 goals = 3 × 6
• 7 goals = 7 × 6
• 12 goals = 12 × 6

Encourage your child to recall facts quickly or use strategies such as doubles and repeated addition to help solve them.

Mixed Operations Challenges

Children can multiply the number of goals by 6, add the number of behinds and then work out the total score. 

For example: 8 goals and 5 behinds

8 × 6 = 48

48 + 5 = 53

Total score = 53 points

For an extra challenge, try working backwards.

For example: The team scored 41 points and kicked 5 behinds. How many goals did they score?