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

Thank you, I really appreciate the responses.

I don’t want people to think I am a pushy parent, I’m not, it’s more she has a love it and I’m trying to go with it and keep up but I’m getting lost along the way…

She doesn’t learn like me..I add numbers as they are but she rounds them up and adds onto them then takes the difference away…to me that seems harder but I think that’s why when I explain things to her she looks at me like ‘that’s a silly way mummy’…our brains clearly work differently…

Maths for her is a game, she loves games - board games, top trumps, any maze style game. So I’m trying to keep it fun…while trying to meet her need and thirst for numbers…I wish I was better as maths! ;) she clearly did not get this from me…

The mini sudoku games (Ken Ken?) to work her up to full sudoku, code cracker activity type books, an app called funexpected maths isn’t bad. We have maths aptitude tests in Australia called icas and I have bought sample papers and done the year 2 papers with my year 1. (It starts at year 2, but he could easily tackle year 3 as well)

And my son enjoys chess, checkers and all the solo player ‘puzzle’ games like these https://pandakids.com.au/products/smart-games-iq-fit-mind-challenge-logic-puzzle-multi-level-brainteaser?variant=31743634472996&country=AU&currency=AUD&utm_medium=product_sync&utm_source=google&utm_content=sag_organic&utm_campaign=sag_organic&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=19561309623&gbraid=0AAAAACm6MeJVNQN3MCkKzfaSOiJ5kBdbG&gclid=Cj0KCQjw9JLHBhC-ARIsAK4Phco1jTAGvGrVV_NekflODY5KHl4-Hx9bch8bYm45mF_mgcuUVp0PvRoaAqMkEALw_wcB

https://www.google.com/aclk?sa=L&ai=DChsSEwj94f2f8pGQAxWrklAGHWI4Cx8YACICCAEQGxoCZGc&co=1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI_eH9n_KRkAMVq5JQBh1iOAsfEAQYBSABEgL9mPD_BwE&sph=&sig=AOD64_2AH_Kl4ZUXO45vUCjipcCVUw1fuw&ctype=5&q=&ved=2ahUKEwi3vfef8pGQAxVDU0EAHRVKOcQQwg8oAHoECAsQOQ&adurl=

A bit old for her at the moment but we loved this book

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Whats-Point-Maths-DK/dp/0241343526

and this one

if you think of it as an array it is obvious even to, or even especially to, a young child. I am not sure what you can do with that?

I have 2 young adults who are great at maths. DS got 97% in his maths and FM A levels and a 1st in his degree now working in finance. DD got 9’s at GCsE (in everything) and is predicted 4 x A*. None of them did any extra work. Maybe encourage some competitions, a bit of fun. I’d be worried they’d become bored in school if start skipping ahead too much.

What about watching countdown together? 😊

Yes, this. We use in schools as a resource for breadth, problem solving and deepening understanding.

i loved maths. Try some logic puzzles. I saw maths as a puzzle that needed solving. It uses similar thinking skills

My DD enjoys thr carol voderman books

I agree with this.

My daughter is studying maths at a top uni and she was strong but not particularly ahead in primary. Her best friend was better than her in year 6 but ended up preferring history and english. Higher level maths is actually quite different to primary level.

It's great she enjoys maths but I would try and keep it low key and encourage her with extra fun stuff rather than pushing ahead in the curriculum.

I could not disagree with this more. One should let a child follow their interests and passions, and for some that interest/passion may be an academic pursuit. I do not see why that is any different to any other interest they may have. My 7 year old DD loves the piano. Am I wrong for arranging lessons and letting her play piano all the time? And no one bats an eyelid if children read books which are advanced for their age, so what’s the problem with doing more maths if that’s what she loves? I really think there is a subset of weird anti-intellectualism going on for some people.

OP - I’m sorry, I don’t have any suggestions for resources, but wanted to say that you should ignore this sort of nonsense. It’s clear your child is pushing for this, not you, and it’s right to finds ways for her to follow her interests. It may all change and she may suddenly not want to do it anymore. As long as you don’t force it, I think you are doing exactly the right thing. Best of luck to you and DD.

I think the poster is warning against talking to the child herself about being "advanced". It can put a lot of psychological pressure on a child, and encourage perfectionism, especially if she has areas she "average" in later on.

Also - you probably wouldn't push higher level English curriculum on a child - you'd let them read books for fun. There's loads of maths enrichment you can do for fun that reinforce what she's learning.

Lots of excellent ideas above.
One to add I've not seen mentioned yet is rubix cubes. DS has adored them since young - a pyramid from about 5y old, and since secondary will happily make a pattern in a dodecahedron and put it back to plain sides.

I have always loved maths and my brain definitely works better with numbers than words. When I was 10/11 I tutored one of my dads friends through a maths test he needed to pass to get on a course.
I'd focus on critical thinking, moving into sciences a lot of physics and chemistry is applied mathematics and practical applications might be interesting - things like mechanics can be moved into practical experiments/projects. I ended up focusing on chemistry as it brought together my interest in maths and biology.

Thanks all, I don’t push her…she asks to do maths - she sees it as a game rather than a chore…we don’t do it all day each day just when she wants - she just wants it harder / different. We stopped using the books because I didn’t want her to get too far ahead or get bored. Which she doesn’t seem to be …Also I can’t explain it very well as my Maths isn’t that good and as she gets better I am struggling…

Hence Asking for recommendations on other ways to learn…I still want it to be fun and still have want her to learn in an enjoyable way.

she knows she’s ahead but that she might not always be and that she’s good a some things but not others - none that of that bothers her. She’s a very contented child with a good degree of emotional intelligence to know people are all different and everyone has a talent…she doesn’t do it to be ahead or anything like that…it’s a very basic need for her…she does it because it’s her thing - maths makes her happy…just as going to the park might another child.

I will explore all the suggestions so thanks…she tells me she doesn’t even want to do a job in maths..even though she likes it…she wants to be a food critic as she loves food…so who knows how long the love of maths will last…:) thanks again

@Snowboardmum73 at that age I used to enjoy watching countdown with my grandparents. It was mostly for the number rounds but the letters rounds were beneficial too, I really liked the playing around with numbers it doesn't have to be fancy mathematics to get enjoyment.

My DS loved maths (and still does, he has an Economics degree and a finance job now) from a young age. I had a meeting with his headteacher and she said to encourage a love of all knowledge, science, different countries, flags, currency and definitely chess.

Beast academy. It’s great.

I really recommend Beast Academy, it’s a US curriculum for ‘mathsy’ kids and it’s great. The textbooks look like a comic, and the maths is challenging and rigorous.

You can buy the paper textbooks / exercise books but they are quite £ (I buy on Amazon to avoid wildly expensive shipping fees to the UK). You can also try it online.

https://beastacademy.com/

My son has loved maths since he was a tiny toddler. He's now a teen and is still the same. He's at the top of the top set and they have to set him extra work to keep him busy

I loved it too and remembered the joy of extra maths work books in the holidays, which my parents bought me as a treat.

I don't understand why some people want to squish this joy or keep it in a box.

I used to set fun maths questions for him and he would ask for more and more (they would be themed eg at Christmas they would be about elves making presents etc)

And then he was getting so fed up with the lack of stretch at school that I organised a tutor. Having tutors who understand and welcome very bright children who love learning us the key (usually someone who excelled at school themselves). At primary his tutor gave him all kinds of fun maths related questions and projects. He looked forward to it every week

As long as they are rounded and doing other things too then there is nothing wrong with indulging their love of a subject

It's worth a look at https://www.thinkersmeetup.com/ too

DS has done various classes with them - strategic thinking with board games /astronomy/chess. Some of the classes are in the day but some are after school

Don't do "school" type workbooks. Thats so narrow. She will be taught that stuff in school at some point anyway so its a waste of her time and yours pushing her ahead in it.

Sign her up for music lessons (these appeal a lot to mathematical children), do a lot of puzzles and games - things involving shape & position, strategy etc.look up smart games - things like the iq puzzler. Also look at learning things like chess, coding, and foreign languages.

Also if maths is where her strength is, you should be more focussed on areas where she is weaker - physical skills, social skills, empathy, independence & risk taking. Can she swim, ride a bike, roller skate, tie her shoelaces? Can you teach her some simple cooking. Can she draw and paint, build creatively with lego (not just follow a booklet to build a set model).

Foreign languages came easy to my maths loving DS, that’s a good suggestion and so are music lessons.