National Numeracy Day Early Years & Primary toolkit
Welcome to your toolkit!
Thank you so much for supporting National Numeracy Day, 20 May 2026.
First up, a HUGE thank you for being part of National Numeracy Day! Your school’s involvement helps children build confidence with numbers and develop skills that will support brighter futures.
This toolkit makes it easy to celebrate your participation and spread the word across your school community. On this page, you’ll find everything you need to pick up and play National Numeracy Day in your school. We’ve kept it simple; no time-consuming prep required. Just choose your activities and get started.
There are ready-to-use resources for children, plus posters, letter templates and other promotional assets to help you involve parents, carers and colleagues. This toolkit will be continually updated throughout the coming months/weeks on the lead up to the big day.
Need the toolkit for secondary schools or supporting adults instead? Click here.
Below, you’ll find:
(click on the name of each section to jump down the page)
• About National Numeracy Day
• About the theme: Count on Your Community
• Plan your day: example schedules
• The Number Heroes drawing competition
• Live Lesson with Times Tables Rock Stars and Mr MoneyJar
• Lesson plans
• Activities
• The Big Number Natter
• Communications assets: letter templates, social media, bunting, posters and displays
• Our social media accounts
About National Numeracy Day
So, first things first, what’s it all about? National Numeracy Day is the UK’s only campaign dedicated to improving everyday maths. Each May, schools and organisations across the country come together to help children and adults feel more confident with numbers at school, at home and in the workplace.
The day shines a spotlight on the importance of numeracy and highlights free tools and resources that help children, families and staff take practical steps to build confidence and strengthen essential maths skills.
About the theme: Count on Your Community
This year, National Numeracy Day highlights the vital role communities play in building confidence with numbers.
Many children and adults across the UK struggle with numeracy and improving these skills can feel daunting to tackle alone. But with encouragement and support from teachers, classmates and families, positive change is possible.
Through Count on Your Community, we’re inviting schools to help create supportive environments where pupils can talk openly about numbers, feel safe making mistakes, and take small, meaningful steps together to build their confidence.
Plan your day: example schedules
We want to make National Numeracy Day as easy as possible for busy teachers! Whether you’re planning a full day of celebration weeks in advance or having an impromptu lesson on the day, these ideas should come in handy.
There are example schedules for one lesson, half a day, and a full day of activities, and you can find all the supporting materials you need on this page.
Number Heroes Competition
This year our Number Heroes drawing competition returns with a brilliant brand-new theme: How do people use numbers in your neighbourhood, club or community?
We’re inviting children aged 3–13, as well as all children and young people in receipt of SEN support or an EHCP, to get creative and explore the real-life ways numbers are used all around them, from local shops and sports clubs to community groups and everyday heroes. It’s free to enter, packed with fantastic prizes for pupils and schools, and a brilliant way to spark conversations about how numbers matter in the world around us. Get ready to inspire your pupils to become our next Number Heroes!
The competition is now open! Download your worksheet, and then head to the competition webpage to submit your entries.
Live Lesson with Times Tables Rock Stars and Mr MoneyJar
On the day itself we’ll have a Live Lesson with Times Tables Rock Stars and Rotimi Merriman-Johnson, aka Mr MoneyJar!
Starting at 09:30 on 20 May (and available on demand afterwards) Times Tables Rock Stars will be hosting a fun national game of ‘Would You Rather’ for primary schools, exploring savvy spending and how we make money choices in our families and communities. The lesson will be around 15 minutes long.
Lesson plans
From Bobby Seagull and Susan Okereke
COMING SOON!
Bobby and Susan have created lesson plans and starter videos to get you planning the ultimate summer fête!
For KS1, students can come up with activity ideas, and design their own games, to develop their understanding of addition and subtraction, identifying odd and even numbers, working with money, logical reasoning, understanding “greater than” concepts and problem-solving by working within a budget.
For KS2, students can 'Beat the Budget' when hiring a DJ and planning activities. Children will develop their understanding of multiplication, working with time, calculating with money, applying percentages and reasoning about best value with budgeting.
From Maths Circle
Activities
From Numberblocks
Life is so much better when we put our heads together!
For many of us, a key support in our communities is our friends.
Sing along with the Numberblocks in this karaoke video, and use the activity booklet to build number confidence together.
The Big Number Natter
This activity is a way of sharing how we feel when it comes to maths and numbers. For those who struggle, this is a great first step towards feeling more confident. You can do this in small groups or whole classes, with students or staff, and they can be as formal or informal as you like.
Use our simple guide to plan your session, and the talking points to get conversations flowing.
Spread the word: communications assets
Shout about it!
Below you’ll find everything you need to spread the word and build excitement in your school community, from ready-made templates to social media guidance. April is a great time to start sharing your plans and building momentum ahead of the big day in May.
Letter template for parents and carers
Use this editable letter to inform, engage, and excite parents and carers about National Numeracy Day!
![[field.image-text]](/sites/default/files/styles/scale_and_crop_600x350/public/images/Letter-template-thumbnail.png?itok=I49E4x3i)
Social media
![[field.image-text1]](/sites/default/files/styles/scale_and_crop_600x350/public/styles/scale_and_crop_600x350/public/images/NND-promo-26.png?itok=NST-s46K)
Bunting, posters and smartboard displays
Use these displays, posters and bunting around your nursery, school or youth group to get everyone talking about National Numeracy Day.
![[field.image-text2]](/sites/default/files/styles/scale_and_crop_600x350/public/images/Bunting-and-displays.png?itok=aUDI4gpy)
Please share your activity!
Be sure to tag us in any social media activity and use #NationalNumeracyDay and #BigNumberNatter so we can see and share what you're up to! You can find us on: