How many days has it been since your class returned to school last August or September? You may need to do some counting on a calendar. For schools in Aberdeen City this is Friday 7th February.

Naturally this is a lovely opportunity to celebrate all things 100 and of course going outside as part of this  is a must. So here’s some ideas to get you going…

1) String together 100m

Go and find all your bits and pieces of wool and string. Put them together in 1m lengths until you have 100m. Use this to create a mystery trail around the school grounds. What do your children think would be needed to make a mystery trail and why? 100 interesting objects?

2) Walk 100 steps

Where would you get to outside, if you walked 100 steps in any direction? Estimate first and take photos of the different places you arrive at. How does this differ from going 100m? Is it possible to go 100 steps in every direction?

3) Find 100 objects

Find 100 objects outside which fit altogether in one matchbox. Is this an impossible task?

4) Create a multi-coloured rock swap station. (Yes I’m giving away my age here)

Enjoy place value work outside. You need to set this up near an area of gravel which is looking a bit sad – like my driveway. Each child can collect 10 chuckies (pieces of gravel). When this happens, he or she can take it to the rock swap station and chose one bigger rock. Once this happens 10 times, a child can cash in their big rock for a really special stone. It is theirs to keep for a week if they can work out how many chuckies were collected to gain the special stone.

5) Hopscotch 100

Draw a great big 100-place hopscotch. How will you do this as a class or group? Can any child hop to the end of it? And back again! How much chalk did you use up? Were you able to count aloud accurately as you hopped along and back?

6) 100 sticks

As a class, gather 100 sticks. How will you organise and sort them so that you all know you have exactly 100? Now devise or invent a game or activity to play with 100 sticks.

7) Create a group picture using only 100 found objects

This can be surprisingly challenging so discuss a strategy and tactics first – what might effective groups be doing to achieve this task?

8) Take 100 photos of your school grounds

What images most capture the feeling, ethos and values of your school? How will your class decide? Think about presenting your work afterwards – is there 100 different ways of doing this?

9) Write 100 words …

… about your favourite outdoor place to be….

10) Exactly 100

Is there exactly 100 of something in your school – inside or out? No more. No less. Exactly 100. Please send me a photo or link or list…

Finally thank you very much to Karen Cingiser, an elementary school teacher who tweets at @cingy3 for the query which led to this blog post being written.