Maths games/resources for reception child

[VarioPerfect]

My DC2 is in reception. She is autumn born and seems to have inherited DH’s love and aptitude for numbers. She has learned how to tell the time from listening to me teach her big brother and so can count in 5s and 10s (and so also knows the 5 and 10 x tables).

She has been asking me to teach her more times tables (DC1 is in year 3 and big into times tables rockstars) - I’d love to encourage her interest in maths but it feels like it would be better to stretch her sideways at this point or she might end up a bit bored at school.

Does anyone have any ideas for games or resources I could use with her, or a topic to teach her that won’t cause issues for her at school?

https://nrich.maths.org/parents

Absolutely perfect @Octavia64 - thank you!

I would introduce practical maths applications too. Building complicated Lego, mechanical metal planes. Sorting and building stuff following instructions really helped my DC from an early age.

We all like Lego and the different themes things that come out still to this day!

I did loads of baking with them too. Weighing, measuring etc etc.

As a Reception teacher, I highly recommend Orchard Games and Numberblocks resources for this age group.

Numberblocks have an amazing range of toys and books out now. Most of the toys are quite open ended, so will encourage her to carry out her own mathematical investigations.

What is she like with Number Bonds to 10? I highly recommend this game:-

https://amzn.eu/d/6iHURqy

Another open ended resource, which she likely uses in school, is Numicon.

https://amzn.eu/d/4ksSAXb

My DS is also very keen on maths and very able; his school are going about it in exactly the way you describe - not teaching him further maths, but strengthening his agility in working with numbers. If the class are working on number bonds up to 20, they might get him to write down all the ways he could make 20 using subtraction, for example. Or all the number bonds he can think of for 100. They’ve let him crack on with addition and subtraction, so a bit of stretching there, but they’re giving him problem solving and agility tasks.

I’ve taught him sudoku which he likes, and there are some good kids’ books around. Orchard Toys do a few nice maths based games - Money Match Cafe, Times Tables Heroes, Counting Mountain. None of these are teaching new maths, it’s just playing with numbers. Also we play 21 with playing cards (or blackjack, whatever you like to call it!); it’s all adding practice.

I’d also talk to the school about it at parents’ evening; they can give you their take on it and they might have some fun suggestions.

All of the above are great suggestions. Also maths books like the murderous maths series, as she gets older.

I would say it isn't a problem if she knows her times tables early. If she's as competent and enthusiastic as that, she will have learnt them well before they are taught in school anyway. Talk about how they are linked eg. 4x3 is 12 and if you double 4 you get 8 and double 12 you get 24, so 8x3=24.

You can't beat a good maths manipulative!

These 10 frames come as a game but can also be used to calculate or for open ended play.

There's the classic Base 10 blocks of course.

You can build squares and rectangles to learn multiplication. As demonstrated .

I also enjoy Polydrons for geometry.

My DS loved number blocks at that age (still does) and learnt loads of math by watching it. if you or DH is maths you can watch with her and the develop the concepts just by talking about them or on paper.

Shut the box is a fantastic game, originally it was a pub game but it's great for number bonds. My mum bought it for my children when the youngest was about reception age and we still play it now (youngest is 10) it just gets a bit more strategic/competitive as they get older!

Thank you all so much for such helpful replies - so glad I asked. I’ll investigate and put some of these on her Christmas list!

That’s amazing progress for Reception! If she’s already comfortable with 5s and 10s, stretching her sideways is definitely a good idea so she stays engaged without racing too far ahead of the curriculum.
Some great “sideways” maths ideas for this age:

• Number bonds (to 10 and 20)
• Simple patterns & sequences
• Counting in 2s, odd/even numbers
• Basic shapes, symmetry, and sorting games
• Practical measuring (length, capacity, comparing weights)
• Money games with coins
• Fun problem-solving puzzles (spot the mistake, what comes next, matching sets)

You can also keep it playful with board games, dice games, or little challenges around the house. If you want structured activities, Worksheetzone has lots of maths worksheets and games that are perfect for her age and level — they keep things fun without pushing formal content too early. https://worksheetzone.org/worksheets/math

A toy till with play money, lots of shop play. Little kids no longer handle money the way they did a generation ago.

Schools don't have tuck shops. They aren't allowed to wander to the corner shop. Clubs are paid Direct debit. Lots of adults use cards so they aren't even seeing you use cash.

My DS now Year 1 is similarly able - knew all times tables by the end of Reception, is now doing column addition and subtraction in the tens of thousands. Keep going with the times tables and then you can teach her the concepts of prime numbers ("numbers not in any times table") and square numbers. DS loves chess, Monopoly, Yahtzee.

FWIW (and I was talking to a secondary maths teacher friend about this recently) I wouldn't worry about teaching her the "wrong" method for addition, subtraction etc. I think that children who are inherently very able with maths won't get confused - they will easily cope when their teacher in Year 3 or whatever tells them to do it a slightly different way.

Oh, and Numicon as well, if you don't already have a set.

My DS2 was like this. I remember him doing a times table book on holiday after Reception and he loved those basic maths books with problems. He also loved spelling tests! I would give him 100 spellings while I cooked - in Reception! I think times table and spellings will not leave her bored at school, it just increases speed and they grow out of that phase quickly. DS moved onto chess, football, tennis, fortnite, Tik Tok, Spanish. He has loads of things he gets into for a while to stimulate him.

To be honest, my DS was bored in school until A levels because he understood concepts very quickly and hated going over it till everyone understood it, not because he already knew it. Now he's feeling pretty challenged!

Sum swamp by learning resources is a good board game.

My sister was like this though with hindsight may have been helped by also being extended in other ways to have the benefit from breadth.She had different work in Maths though then peaked too soon-this doesn't have to be the case.She regained her sense of competitiveness at Law school!

My DC is in Reception and loves Numberblocks. We got him the Numberblocks MathLink Cubes which he uses all the time. He can count to 150 and knows most of the times tables up to 10. It hadn’t occurred to me it might be an issue, it’s just what he likes to do!

Whilst it doesn't make sense to teach a child the curriculum for older years as a whole, I don't think you should worry about her learning things ahead of time if they come up naturally.
My DD knew almost all primary maths before she did it at school, because it just came up naturally at home. The biggest exception was digital time - all our home clocks/watches are analogue, so she could tell the time but wasn't used to digital clocks.
I thought the school might get to teach her long multiplication, as it didn't come up in conversation. Then she asked me what it was. I showed her one example, and she could immediately see how to extend it to numbers with more digits. It was at that point that I realised that "learning it with everyone else" would only actually have lasted for a few minutes, because that's all it took her to learn it. If I'd refused to discuss maths above her year group with her, she would have spent very little more time learning new things in school maths lessons.

Hey!

very late reply but just found this. We use Fables World for maths and absolutely love it. Our school are obsessed with Mathletics which we personally don’t find that engaging, but Fables World has done the trick for us.