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Journey To School Maths

Maths hiding in getting to school: walking time

Estimate, measure and compare how long the walk takes.

Quick answer

Maths hiding in getting to school: walking time is about estimating, measuring, and comparing how long it takes to walk to school. You can use time, distance, speed, and patterns to understand your journey better.

Learning outcome

By the end of this page, you will be able to estimate and measure how long your walk to school takes, and compare your walking times with others. Success signs:
  • You can tell how long your walk takes using a stopwatch or watch
  • You can compare your walking time with a friend or family member
  • You can estimate how long a journey will take
  • You can use simple maths to work out if you are walking faster or slower

Why this matters

Maths helps you understand your daily journey to school. When you know how long it takes to walk, you can plan better – like when to leave the house, if you need a bus, or how much time to spend on homework. It also helps you compare your walking speed to others, which can be fun in games or races. Understanding time, distance, and speed gives you useful skills for life, from planning your day to playing sports or even working out how fast you can ride your bike.

How it works

To understand your walking time, you need to:
  1. Choose a start point (like your front door) and an end point (like the school gate)
  2. Walk from start to finish and use a stopwatch or watch to time it
  3. Record how long it takes in seconds or minutes
  4. Compare your time with others or with your own previous times
  5. Use maths to work out how fast you are walking

Examples you can see

Imagine you walk from your house to school. Your walk takes 8 minutes and 30 seconds. That’s 510 seconds. If your friend takes 7 minutes and 15 seconds, that’s 435 seconds. That means your friend is faster! You can also think about how far you walk. If you take 100 steps and each step is about 30cm, you walk 3000cm, which is 30 metres. If you walk 30 metres every minute, you walk 1800 metres in an hour. Let’s try a more visual example:
  • Walk 10 steps and time it – say it takes 10 seconds
  • So 10 steps = 10 seconds
  • That means 1 step = 1 second
  • If you take 50 steps, it will take 50 seconds

Try it as a mini adventure

Adventure: The Walking Time Challenge! You are on a mission to find out how long it takes to walk to school and compare it with your friends. 1st time: You walk from your house to the school gate. It takes 6 minutes and 45 seconds. 2nd time: Your friend Sarah walks the same way. She takes 7 minutes and 10 seconds. 3rd time: You walk the same path again. This time it takes 6 minutes and 20 seconds. Now you have three times: 6 minutes 45 seconds, 7 minutes 10 seconds, and 6 minutes 20 seconds. You can see that:
  • Your fastest time was 6 minutes 20 seconds
  • Your slowest time was 7 minutes 10 seconds
  • You took about 6 minutes and 55 seconds on average
Now, if you want to walk 1000 metres to school and you walk 100 steps per minute, how long will it take you? Try it out and see if you can beat your time next time!

Common mistakes

  • Mistake: Thinking that walking 100 steps in 10 seconds means you walk 1000 metres in a minute.
    Why it happens: Confusing steps with distance.
    Fix: Remember that 100 steps in 10 seconds = 10 steps per second, so you walk 100 steps in 10 seconds, not 1000 metres in a minute.
  • Mistake: Adding minutes and seconds without converting them first.
    Why it happens: Not knowing that 60 seconds = 1 minute.
    Fix: Always convert seconds to minutes and seconds. For example, 7 minutes 15 seconds = 6 minutes + 75 seconds = 6 minutes 75 seconds.
  • Mistake: Measuring only once and thinking that’s the final answer.
    Why it happens: Not understanding that times can vary.
    Fix: Measure more than once to get an average or to see how your time changes.

Parent and carer guide

Parents and carers can help children understand walking time by:
  • Using a stopwatch or phone timer to measure walks
  • Recording the times in a chart or notebook
  • Discussing how the time changes with weather or tiredness
  • Encouraging children to estimate times before measuring
  • Using the journey to talk about speed and distance
  • Creating a walking time game or challenge
If your child is younger (Ages 4-6), focus on simple comparisons like “Who walks faster?” and use big, clear words. For older children (Ages 7-9), introduce averages and more complex time calculations. For teenagers (Ages 10-12), explore how walking speed affects journey time and how to plan better. What to say: "Let’s see how long it takes to walk from the front door to the garden gate. Can you guess how long it will take?" What not to worry about: Don’t stress about getting the exact time. The point is to understand the idea of time, distance, and how they relate.

Practice questions

  1. Tom walks to school in 8 minutes and 20 seconds. Sarah walks the same route in 7 minutes and 45 seconds. Who walks faster?
  2. James walks 50 steps in 25 seconds. How long will it take him to walk 100 steps?
  3. If a child walks 300 metres in 5 minutes, how far will they walk in 1 minute?
  4. Emma walks to school in 6 minutes and 15 seconds. Her brother walks the same way in 7 minutes and 5 seconds. What is the difference in their times?
  5. What is the average time for these walks: 5 minutes 30 seconds, 6 minutes 10 seconds, and 5 minutes 50 seconds?
Answers:
  1. Sarah walks faster because 7 minutes 45 seconds is less than 8 minutes 20 seconds.
  2. It will take 50 seconds because 100 steps is double 50 steps, so 25 seconds x 2 = 50 seconds.
  3. They walk 60 metres in 1 minute because 300 metres ÷ 5 = 60 metres.
  4. The difference is 50 seconds. (7 minutes 5 seconds – 6 minutes 15 seconds = 50 seconds)
  5. The average is 5 minutes 50 seconds. (5 minutes 30 seconds + 6 minutes 10 seconds + 5 minutes 50 seconds = 17 minutes 30 seconds. 17 minutes 30 seconds ÷ 3 = 5 minutes 50 seconds)

FAQ

How can I measure my walking time?

You can use a stopwatch, a phone timer, or even a watch with a second hand to measure how long it takes to walk from one point to another.

Why is it helpful to know how long it takes to walk to school?

Knowing your walking time helps you plan your day better. It helps you know when to leave home, if you need to walk faster, or if you should take a bus or bike.

How can I make walking time more fun?

You can turn it into a game! Time yourself, challenge a friend, or try to beat your own record. You can also count your steps or walk in a pattern to make it more interesting.

What if I walk at different speeds?

That’s normal! Walking speed can change depending on how tired you are, the weather, or how much you are carrying. It’s okay to have different times – just try to find an average.

Can I use walking time to learn about maths?

Yes! You can learn about time, distance, speed, averages, and even fractions. For example, if you walk 100 steps in 30 seconds, you can work out how many steps you take in a minute.