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Maths games over the holidays/resources help pls!

7 replies

Dreamingofcakeallnight · 10/07/2013 23:34

I posted a short while ago asking for suggestions for what I could do over the holidays re reading and someone suggested reading chest. Well, it's been great! Thank you mums netters!he loved the parcel of books through the door and is super excited about the next lot.

Can anyone now recommend something to work on his numeracy over the holidays? What kinds of things pre reception would be best to do with him? He can do simple addition (on his fingers) and 'take aways'. Can anyone else give me a steer on would be useful to do with him to give him a headstart on reception? That sounds pushy doesn't it? But I just mean in a playful way. I'm not going to sit him at a desk and drill him!

Thank you!!

OP posts:
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PastSellByDate · 11/07/2013 09:18

Hi Dreamingofcakeallnight:

Well for a 4 year old you may have stumbled across Oxford Owl (both for Reading & Maths) support in first school years: www.oxfordowl.co.uk/ There is a lot of advice and ideas for parents and some games for children that should be age appropriate (but I'd try them out first to judge if they're too hard or not).

Obvious things to do are snakes & ladders - play forward for addition and backwards for subtraction.

Evens and Odds: Walk up one side of the street (maybe on the way to the shops or the park) and back the other side. Start talking about the differences in the numbers.

Puzzles (not just jigsaw but wooden shapes that fit together in a certain way) are also great for working on maths ability. Tangram puzzles (where you have set shapes but are tasked with making different things (i.e. animals or objects) using the shapes. There are usually two ways to play this: each - shows you where the shapes are repositioned with outlines or the hard way - new shape, but no outlines, so you have to work out the arrangement (probably too advanced for age 4 - but who knows - this is MN).

Blocks: working with building blocks and discussing the names of various shapes. (working with concepts of 2D & 3D).

Cooking (measurements): let your DC help you cook by measuring out all the ingredients. Familiarity with the relative size of things and equivalence of things (i.e. 1 teaspoon = 5 ml) is really useful, but usually is learned from familiarity - so repeatedly working with these things).

count/ record: If you are around a place a lot and your DC is wild about something (say dragon flies) - you could record how many you see each time you visit and compare it with last time. When do you see a lot - on calm warm days? Windy, wet days? When do numbers drop off?

And relax.....

If you DC is already adding/ subtracting at 4 he's streets ahead of most kids and your problem (and the teachers - if he's going to a state school) will be entertaining him and encouraging this. Try to find things he enjoys which include a maths dimension and you'll be winning.

It isn't a sprint this education thing - it's a marathon. So one of the best ways of supporting maths or English is to find things that relate to it but in unusual ways (going to a museum and learning about science, going to a natural history museum and learning about fossils, going to a historic house of a famous author, going to a play or film of a favourite children's author/ story, etc...

HTH

PastSellByDate · 11/07/2013 09:22

Sorry:

DH just chipped in don't forget great engineering things - steam railways, Ironbridge Gorge & Blist Hill, canals, etc...

Lots there to see practical uses of mathematics/ engineering.

SVN · 11/07/2013 09:27

Sorry to hijack your thread, but was wondering whether anyone could recommend any good maths apps or websites for a 9 year old? Thank you!

Dreamingofcakeallnight · 11/07/2013 09:36

Thanks Past. That's amazing advice. Especially that re relaxing ;). I appreciate it.

OP posts:
PastSellByDate · 11/07/2013 12:59

Hi SVN:

So for a 9 year old (which I think is finishing Y4 rising to Y5 next September) the game around this age is multiplication.

Oxford University published this top ten Maths APPS list: fds.oup.com/www.oup.com/pdf/oxed/primary/top-10-maths-apps.pdf

Not sure how your DC is doing but there are some great websites with games:

Woodland Junior School Maths Zone: resources.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/maths/ - just select what area you wish to work on and off you go...

Table Trees: a very gentle game to allow you the chance to practice your multiplication table: www.amblesideprimary.com/ambleweb/mentalmaths/tabletrees.html (nice relaxed practice when first learning).

If you want more stressful gaming environment for learning times tables (and practicing them to build up speed) I'd highly recommend Timez attack: www.bigbrainz.com/

There are more expensive versions but the free download has two platforms (a dungeon & a castle) which you travel through (as a young ogre) stumbling across multiplication problems you solve & getting quizzed by bigger ogres on your times tables. It reinforces multiplication is multiple additions by first showing you (say with 4 x 4) 4 domino style blocks with 4 dots, then they turn into balls and bounce on the floor becoming snails and you collect them up and throw them back at the wall (as you throw them against the wall it counts them up - 4 - 8 - 12 - 16). Then you get the traditional vertical multiplication problem 4 x 4 and have to type in 16. At which point a medium-sized ogre comes out and quizzes you on this and two previous multiplication problems, which you have to get right in a certain amount of time or he thumps you. Every so often you have a big quiz from the giant ogre. The programme starts where you are at (by testing you) and every quiz with the giant ogre works out which times table problems you do and don't know. If you miss them too much you get them again next level. It is stressful, but it is strangely addictive and without trying it really does help with learning your tables (in a really fun way) and improving speed of recalling these number facts.

Mumsnet Learning has a link to Maths Champ here: www.mathschamps.co.uk/#home - now 9 is kind of between two levels (7 - 9) and (9 - 11) so you may need to have an explore to decide which is appropriate for you - but there are some really fun games on this.

If you fancy a challenge I highly recommend the Cambridge NRICH Maths website - explore all the great resources there nrich.maths.org/primary-upper

Their countdown game is a lot of fun: nrich.maths.org/6499

HTH

SVN · 11/07/2013 13:26

Thank you ever so much, PastSellByDate, that's really helpful. I'll take a look at those sites you've mentioned.

Elibean · 11/07/2013 14:12

Do you have an ipad or iphone, OP?

If so, try Squeebles. dd (just finishing Y4) loves them - as does my younger one. They have addition/subtraction, times tables, division, and fractions.

Oh - and spelling, where you make your own lists.

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