Maths for advanced 6/7 year old - recommendations?

[Snowboardmum73]

My daughter has a natural love of maths - she’s year 2 aged 6 soon to be 7.

She loves maths esp maths with numbers.

her school maths is way to easy for her - I have spoken to he teacher and will again. They give her handouts but the last lot we got were from 4 years above her. She did 40% on her own but nothing in the handouts explained the principles first, and which for some maths she still needs.

we have tried numberbots and doodle maths - none of which are varied enough for her…she likes to learn different types of maths and not on timers - she would have had time to solve and think.

Any recommendations for programmes? I don’t mind paying. I really want something that will explain the principles first.

we also do all the KS2 and KS1 workbooks online but she’s done most of them and again, it would be nice if it was something more of a game..

she does it because she likes it so i want it to still me fun for her - thanks

Let her be a child, encourage other interests, there's plenty of time for extra maths later. Also, it's generally unhelpful labelling young children as 'advanced'.

Following, my daughter is in a similar position. I don't want to cover the upcoming curriculum with her, as that will only make her more bored at school, but she loves logic puzzles and the satisfaction of working things out - hoping someone can suggest games that would satisfy that.

Have you tried something like child-friendly coding?

Deepen her knowledge rather than rushing ahead to other year groups. Opportunities to think deeper and practise what she knows. Lots of suggestions of problem solving here

https://nrich.maths.org/

I'm watching this with interest OP.

Mine does enjoy watching a bit of BBC Bitesize. It would be nice to find something they can dabble with that actually teaches them new concepts in an accessible way.

I don't think there is anything wrong with looking for things to support their interests. Forcing them? No. Providing resources to support their interests in maths/art/geography/reading/lego/dressing up, yes. As long as you let them move on as their interests change, why not.

If doing anything, I'd aim to go sideways not up.
So not advancing through the national curriculum, but doing interesting things outside of it.

Obviously there's coding which is maths adjacent.
There are logic / maths puzzles which provide lateral thinking.

Then, maybe not quite yet, there are things like number bases (binary, hexadecimal etc) and converting to and from them is quite good fun (i did it at primary but it doesn't seem to be taught these days).

Looking into prime numbers etc.

There are masses of fun things with numbers that aren't just doing higher primary stuff.

For example did you know that 6x8 is one less than 7x7?
And that is true for all square and not quite squares? So 14x16 is one less that 15x15?

https://www.google.com/aclk?sa=L&ai=DChsSEwilhamw25GQAxVHlVAGHewbGi0YACICCAEQBhoCZGc&co=1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIpYWpsNuRkAMVR5VQBh3sGxotEAQYASABEgIlVfD_BwE&sph=&sig=AOD64_1JG6gfEz9dKbfKsgeGl_zCD2iGDg&ctype=5&q=&ved=2ahUKEwjRmKCw25GQAxV2VEEAHdeYPPgQwg8oAHoECAsQDQ&adurl=
my mathsy child enjoyed this and also enjoys chess

You could Try some of the CGP books. They sell them on Amazon in bookshops or there an online CGP shop. The ones for the 11+ have explainers along with some more fun puzzles.

It’s lovely that she enjoys maths. I strongly disagree with the previous poster who says let her be a child. What an unthoughtful and inflammatory comment. How is this any different to encouraging a love of reading or sport?! Aren’t we supposed to encourage our children’s passions and talents.

If you really want to, I would recommend working through the White Rose modules. Lots of schools use that for their lesson plans and it's easily accessible.

Children in this country are massively held back by the low expectations in Maths.
Much mathematics can be self taught with a good text book and lots of practice.
Look at some of the (US) homeschooling books.
Yes she may or may not be a child genius but you wont know unless you give her the opportunity to explore.

Mine is in Y3 and very similar with maths. He will get out a workbook I’ve bought for him and do it for fun on the weekends.

Two things, if she’s not understanding the principles, you need to sit with her and work on thinking through them. The most important part of learning is learn how to learn. She needs to have critical thinking and problem solving skills fostered. It’s Y2 maths, you should be able to understand it yourself. She doesn’t need a programme. She needs you working through concepts with her until she gets them. Then draw that into real world practice. Get her thinking mathematically about oranges at the supermarket (how many lots of 3 do we need if we need 12 oranges?). Measure water with a measuring jug. Practice weighing flour to bake (If we have 100g of flour, how much more to get to 250g? Where on the scale is that?).

And secondly, the best bit of advice I got: don’t spend your time trying to build a maths prodigy when you can see they already have a natural proclivity for it. Use that time instead to bolster the skills they are struggling in. Mine loves maths and finds it very easy, but struggles with reading. We do hardly any maths at home now. We focus a lot on reading. Towards the end of Y2, reading skills are really important for maths (for SATS, etc). I’m much more concerned with lifting him up in the areas where he is less confident than pushing ahead where he’s already very strong.

Thank you. She’s a very happy, well rounded child who has lots of other interests from gymnastics to swimming, arts and crafts. She’s not pushed, she asks to do maths even at 9pm at night..I’m not even good at maths so it’s def a natural love for her. But I do believe in supporting a child’s learning esp if they have a love it and want to learn. She is advanced for her age in mathematics…she knows it, I know it and the school knows it…and I’m okay with that..we can’t all be the same even at her age…and I don’t want her to be like everyone else, she’s got to be her and if she likes maths but hates reading - that’s okay with me…

I used tried on the laptop to post a load of useful nrich links, and now I'm getting a "Mumsnet has temporarily banned you from accessing the website" message!

I'll try again, but in the meantime you might also want to check out the First Primary Maths Challenge papers. Aimed at age 7-9 so might be a little challenging at first!

Yes we have - my issue is, she’s my first…I’m not that good at Maths so I feel a little lost…I want to be encourage and help her because she wants to do it but equally it’s been a bit learning curve for me as I was never this good at maths at her age and I also don’t want to stop her interest at school but that’s already happened for at least a year and I gave it a year just to see what would happen but she tells me she’s so bored. She’s not naughty when she’s bored she just lacks interest and asks to do it at home…It feels like a real catch 22 as her class is not separated into ability so she says most children just copy her. Which can’t be good from them either. I just want to support her love of it without hindering her - it’s so tricky to know what’s the best to do…

Ok - will try one or two links at a time...

(Disclaimer - I work on the STEP Support Programme which is part of the millennium maths project, as is Nrich!)

Nrich is aimed mainly at teachers, but has lots of stuff. Much of the content is "Low threshold, high ceiling" which means everyone can get started, but everyone should find it challenging or though provoking.

Primary games: https://nrich.maths.org/games-1

Lots of activities here which are interactive: https://nrich.maths.org/primary-interactive-resources

It's aimed at upper primary, but I do like Dozens: https://nrich.maths.org/problems/dozens (there is a webinar linked to this problem which shows how the game can be used. Please do bear with the waffle-ness of the speakers!)

Mathdoku is also fun: https://nrich.maths.org/problems/mathdoku

Not interactive, but is fun: https://nrich.maths.org/problems/shape-times-shape

Parents Primary page: https://nrich.maths.org/parents/primary

Aimed at teachers, but the Primary curriculum map might help you find problems which are linked to the work she is doing in lesson: https://nrich.maths.org/curriculum-maps/primary

Finally - "First Primary Maths Challenge" : https://www.primarymathschallenge.org.uk/fmc-downloads

Good luck!

Thank you, that’s really helpful. And we do explain principles, when we can, she’s just getting more advanced than me, and I’m 33 weeks pregnant so my head is not in it. I don’t think she’s a prodigy (I have a friend who’s son is on another level to my daughter, he clearly has something special in this ability to understand questions and ‘sees numbers’) but she’s adding fractions together…she just understands it in a way I don’t so I suppose online learning was maybe better at explaining it than me as I’m getting left behind already…i also feel like I’m back at school and can’t explain it correctly as half the time in not sure what I’m doing…

HRTFT. DDis now doing a Masters of mathematics in mathematical physics and would have been what you describe as advanced. I would point her away from the curriculum. All that will achieve is a bored child. I'd encourage her to do a basic coding course and go that way. That will be far more beneficial.

Thank you, I will take a look. She’s seems to learn it in a way I can’t - she counts everything, she talks about numbers before bed, she loves numbers - she has favourite numbers…she talks about numbers all the time..she’s a very well rounded happy child who has loads of other interests…just numbers and maths seem to be her thing at the moment and I’m trying to
go with it! :)

One of the issues with maths is that, in schools at least, it can be hard to make sure that everybody has the opportunity to "get stuck" and then "get unstuck". It can then be very hard for those who have always found maths easy to then suddenly have to deal with the fact that maths is actually quite hard!

Quote from Matt Parker "A true Mathematician doesn't find maths easy, they enjoy how hard it can be" (or something like that).

It's great that you are looking for ways to help support her! I would put an emphasis on "problem solving" activities rather than trying to teach her new content. The primary curriculum map might be really helpful here, so if they are working on number and place value in year 2 you could explore https://nrich.maths.org/problems/light-lights at home together.

Not maths as such, but you might also enjoy doing some escape room puzzles - "Exit the game" now has a kids range aimed at age 5+ (available from amazon and probably other places!). We are quite a mathsy family and enjoy doing these!

I agree and thanks, it’s okay…she loves Maths - her teacher has told me she’s got a natural understanding - she can work it out and she’s articulate in her answers- she can show working out on paper if asked. I was never at that level - I wish I was - I just wanted to try and help support her love of it, while she loves it and when she doesn’t we will move on… my parents never in anyway pushed me or even helped with homework so I also don’t want to do nothing as I feel I was left as a child just to mull along with no real encouragement or praise so it’s finding the balance! :)

Just to add (before I get back to work!) there are thousands of problems on nrich (Its been running for over 25 years and I think there are over 15000 pages - some have been unpublished). It can be quite tricky to find problems which is why I linked to some "collections".

I am much more au fait with secondary/Post 16 maths but if there is a particular topic that you want to find a problem/game on let me know and I'll see if I can find a problem on it (or ask my Nrich colleagues for suggestions!)

When she gets a bit older (from age 10) check out: https://parallel.org.uk/

Thank you, I will look at some coding games. She’s a big fan of dungeon crawler games and board games. She has a code cracker game she loves - so maybe I should look at more versions of this..as it’s travel and anyone can play it with her…you create a code of coloured pegs and she has to crack it in 7 moves or lines…I will see if it can find similar things…