Families can now turn a day out in London into a chance to explore the numbers all around them, thanks to a new set of free activity guides launched today by The Richmond Project, the numeracy charity founded by Rishi Sunak and Akshata Murty.
Called London by Numbers, the online resource features the capital’s best-loved museums and public spaces, encouraging families to spot the everyday numbers in the exhibits and spaces around them, from the windows of a grand museum hall to the length of a blue whale.
The six guides – launched in time for the school holidays – include the Natural History Museum, the Science Museum, the British Museum and the V&A South Kensington, alongside two outdoor guides – London Streets and London Parks – that can be followed anywhere in the city, or indeed beyond.
Each guide is designed for primary school-aged children and takes around an hour to complete, although families can go at their own pace, complete the stops in any order or only in part. Each stop features five number-based activities, one from each of five maths categories: counting and estimation, geometry and shapes, measurement and scale, data and patterns, and problem solving. Parents can access hints for each question, offering a simple way to help their child if they get stuck.
The activities highlight just how prevalent the ‘hidden numbers’ in life are. At the British Museum, families are prompted to estimate how many triangular panels make up the Great Court’s vast glass-and-steel roof. There are 3,312 of them. At the Natural History Museum, they can guess how many children, lying head to toe, it would take to match the 25-metre blue whale skeleton overhead, or compare a tyrannosaurus rex’s 30-centimetre teeth to their own. The two outdoor guides bring numbers into everyday life, from working out bus fares and parking times on London streets to counting trees and tracking wildlife in London parks.
The guides are free and can be accessed via smartphone on The Richmond Project’s website, or downloaded and printed in a child-friendly format with space to note down answers. They are designed to enhance a normal visit rather than replace it.
The activity builds on the charity’s Number Nation research, the largest ever survey of the UK public’s relationship with numbers, which found that 58% of adults scored “low” or “very low” for numeracy and that anxiety about numbers is often passed down through generations. One in five parents said they did not feel confident helping their children with maths homework. London by Numbers is designed to tackle that early, by making number confidence something families build together through play rather than pressure.
The charity plans to release further versions covering other UK destinations in future.
Lizzie Gaisman, chief executive of The Richmond Project, said: “Numbers aren’t contained to worksheets or maths homework – they’re in the world all around us. London by Numbers is about helping families enjoy it together. You don’t need to be good at maths to do these activities with your child, you just need to be curious. Our hope is that a family finishes a guide having had fun, and having quietly built a bit more everyday confidence with numbers along the way.”
The guides are available now at richmondproject.org/london-by-numbers/
