Good Maths Games..

[TheStorySoFar]

Any tips? My 9yo DD is struggling a little & I'd like to make maths fun. Fractions & times tables are the main stumbling blocks ATM. I'm reading Amazon r/v but any more input would be gratefully received. TYIA.

Based on a recommendation here I bought mathical creatures, a card game in which you can do addition, subtraction, division and multiplication in order to win cards with mythical creatures on.

Dd, who's year 2, loves it, although I have to help a lot with division and multiplication and lose on purpose!

We also have the squeebles times tables and fractions apps and dd enjoys them.

Hi TheStorySoFar

I've found these helpful:

Woodlands Junior School Maths Zone: resources.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/maths/index.html - links to all sorts of useful free games/ resources. I used to try them out first to ensure they weren't too hard for DD1 (who struggled at this stage) - but there's a wide range of choices so there's usually something that hits the spot.

Timez Attack - you can pay for this but there is a free two-platform version. It's basically a maze that you travel about in (cast as a young ogre) and every now and then you solve multiplication problems - which are shown both as multiple additions you count up and as standard vertical multiplicaiton problems. They also use the commutative rule (i.e. 6 x 9 is the same thing as 9 x 6) so you are presented with problems to solve in both ways. It can be a little stressful - but it really helps with recall speed. link here: www.bigbrainz.com/

I haven't used this myself - but there is a US website called 'help with fractions' which has explanations of the various operations involved in working with fractions and may be helpful: www.helpwithfractions.com/

Finally - Khan academy has free videos - you hear the disembodied voice and see the maths working out on the screen which sometimes help too: www.khanacademy.org/math/arithmetic/fractions

HTH

sumdog is brilliant

times tables - there's an android/apple app - "perfect times" times tables. It used to be a card game and is a brilliant way to learn tables, I used it in primary and now use it with my own y5 class. its cheap and is v good because it does tables out of order Inc division which not many do

Brilliant, thk you all so much! Will get to check these out this weekend with any luck.

I now swear by Percy parker's times tables on the iPad followed by the squeebles times table game.

Dd(y3) was finding tables really hard going so we do 2 rounds of tables each day and she's gone from screeching,crying and taking over 2 minutes to answer 12 questions to being able to do it in about 40 seconds.

There is a squeebles division app too.

She also likes a fraction app called slice which isn't particularly hard but enabled her to really visualise fractions.

Try the happy puzzle company and orchard toys they both have great educational games.

To teach dd fractions, I just used an A4 pad of paper and drew circles, which you can then divide up depending on what you are teaching. I used the Letts revision guide and workbook to know what I should be teaching. Making the work as visual as possible will not only make it more fun, it will help increase their understanding.

For times tables, I used to do one sum a day and ask her it 3 or 4 times throughout the day.

I would also recommend Khan Academy because of the clarity of the videos. I used to turn to it when there were bits I was struggling with.