Math You Can Play Combo: Number Games for Young Learners

Math Your Kids WANT to Do.

You’ll love these math games because they give your child a strong foundation for mathematical success.

By playing these games, you strengthen your child’s intuitive understanding of numbers and build problem-solving strategies. Mastering a math game can be hard work. But kids do it willingly because it’s fun.

Math You Can Play Combo features two books in one, with 42 kid-tested games that offer a variety of challenges for preschool and school-age learners. Chapters include:

• Early Counting: Practice subitizing — recognizing small numbers of items at a glance — and learn the number symbols.
• Childhood Classics: Traditional folk games invite the whole family to enjoy playing with math.
• Number Bonds: Build a mental picture of the relationships between numbers as you begin to explore addition.
• Numbers to One Hundred: Develop mental math skills for working with larger numbers. Practice using place value, addition, and subtraction.
• Mixed Operations: Give mental muscles a workout with games that require number skills and logical thinking.
• Logic and Probability: Logic games sharpen inductive and deductive thinking skills, while games of chance build an intuition for probability.

Math games prevent math anxiety. Games pump up your child’s mental muscle, reduce the fear of failure, and generate a positive attitude toward mathematics.

Parents can use these games to enjoy quality time with your children. Classroom teachers like them as warm-ups and learning center activities or for a relaxing review day at the end of a term. If you are a tutor or homeschooler, make games a regular feature in your lesson plans to build your students’ math skills.

So what are you waiting for? Clear off a table, grab a deck of cards, and let's play some math!

Denise Gaskins is a veteran homeschooling mother of five who has taught or tutored at every level from preschool to undergraduate physics. She loves math, and she delights in sharing that love with young people. "Math is not just rules and rote memory," Denise says. "Math is like ice cream, with more flavors than you can imagine. And if all you ever do is textbook math, that's like eating broccoli-flavored ice cream!"
As author of the popular blog Let's Play Math, Denise helps parents and teachers open their students' eyes to the variety and richness of mathematics. Her articles and books explore the adventure of learning math as a playful mental game.