I have a five year old who is obsessed with math - his brain just seems to function in a way where he views everything mathematically. My brain doesn't operate this way, but he's starting to rub off on me. He is also rubbing off on my nine year old - we are doing lots more mental math, math games, fun drills, and real world math activities. My son is also taking a course at co-op called "Math Through Literature" - what a blessing this class has been for him! The teacher has taken a special interest in GMan and is helping me to understand his mathematical brain.
Right now both of my children use Horizons math. They both do well with Horizons, so I'm not switching - as long as they are learning the concepts, moving along at a good pace, and doing their work without complaining, I feel like we should stick with it. My son just finished the Kindergarten Horizons math books; I feel like he could probably breeze past the first grade into second grade books, but I don't want to miss any concepts along the way. To make a long story short, we are waiting for our new books to come in the mail, so today I pulled lots of different math activities for him to do which I'd like to share with you. My daughter is working on her current Horizons 3 workbook, but she also enjoys the change of pace with different math activities as well. Maybe you can use these resources, too!
- Online Tangrams - both of my children are talking about shapes, and we found the Cyberchase PBS kids website today that has fun tangrams. I liked them because you can get hints if you need them and there are a lot of fun things to make.
- Mighty Minds Tangrams - I found these at TJ Maxx, but they sell them online as well. I love this set of tangrams, and you can buy additional cards when you finish the initial set.
- Sheppard Software Math Games - a free site with many fun drills. I played "Fruit Shoot" earlier today with my kids and we competed to see who could get the highest score!
- Arcademic Skill Builders drills for Wii - check out my post about this - truly an awesome find!
- Mancala - play this simple counting game with all ages of children. I like the strategizing involved! We have found an online version of the game, too. Here is a link to making your own Mancala game, too!
- Garbage - a fun card game which uses ordinal numbers. My children love to play this, and so do most adults! Some people call it "Trash" as well.
- Math Fact Cafe - some kids like math worksheets, some don't - my kids like them when I offer a small reward for completing them, or when we set a goal of mastering a certain concept by a certain date. You can generate your own sheets here, and I like how simple it is to make them.
- The Number Ladder Game - I did a post about this last summer- it is a HUGE hit, so check it out!
If you have a favorite math resource, could you leave me a comment? I'd love to add to our collection!
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