Good Math Games

My daughter got Sum Swamp for Xmas last year and loves it. Simple adding and subtracting with a face paced game. I highly recommend it.

http://www.amazon.com/Sum-Swamp-Addition-Subtraction-Game...

not sure about games for learning value, but as a former teacher, I loved when my kids learned what makes ten. We'd play the game "Go Fish For Tens." Get a deck of cards and use only the Ace - 9. Play like normal Go Fish, but you try to make ten instead of make a pair. ie: If I have a 4, I'll ask you for a 6 (to make ten). If I have a 5, I'll ask you for a 5. If I have an ace, I'll ask you for a 9. It's basicaly memorization, but if you know what makes ten, it really helps you figure out what makes 20, 30, etc.

You could probably make up your own board game. On each square on the 'board' you could draw a card. Each card could have some sort of math problem on it such as "How do you say the number 24?" or "How many apples are printed on this card?" or "Count all your fingers on one hand. Do so correctly and you get two points."

My daughter and I add using flash cards and a jar of buttons. We read the flash card and she gets the first number and I get the second number. If we put them together, we have a total of n buttons. Before you know it, they are shouting the number before you combine the buttons.

Is your son in school yet????

Per my Daughter's 1st grade Teacher:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/laac/numbers/chi.shtml
http://www.abc.net.au/countusin/games/game1.htm
www.pbskids.org

Here are other websites for math:
http://www.knowledgeadventure.com/math-games.htm
http://www.ixl.com/
http://www.squidoo.com/free-educational-and-fun-online-ga...

Math, is taught in various ways. Repetition is also important in memorizing and learning it. Also, yes, playing games... with anything you do.... counting things out as you do things with him... and visually.
My 4 year old son, likes memory games, puzzles with numbers on it, connect-the-dot number books too. He also counts on his fingers, and for adding or subtracting. I tell him to hold up his fingers, to do so, for example.
When cooking, have him help you... have him "stir 10 times..." for example, have him count out pieces of cut up carrots or anything you are making. Do workbooks... there are so many good ones at book stores, for example.
Teach him with coins too. How much each one is.

Repetition is the way they learn and visually.... initially.

all the best,
Susan

Dominoes, dice and cards - any games that involve these involve counting and adding or comparing numbers. Good ones are War, Go Fish, Top It (you each put out a dominoe or roll 2 dice or put out 2 cards and then add up the numbers you each get and the winner takes whatever you are playing for - chips, chocolate chips, stickers, etc.)

Hi Ho Cherrio is a cute one, so is Sorry, Trouble, or Uno. We mixed up Uno a bit and had it be where you could make a math problem to get the answer but he may be too young for that - say it was a red 2 down you could either put down a red, a 2 or you could put down a 9 and a 7 cause nine minus 7 is 2. Our older daughter did division and muliplication while our younger one stuck to addition and subtraction.

Sorry is great for this. Eleven is the highest number, if I recall correctly, and helped my youngest quite a bit. You might also try the card game, War. The highest number wins both cards. That can help with value. Chutes and Ladders is another good one.

In another few years, Monopoly will be great. My youngest has been playing since he was 7 and he's quite proficient at it now that he's almost 13.

Good luck!

Any board game for kids 5 or 6+ should be good for this. All those games where you roll dice to see how many spaces to move. Look for number cubes (teacher stores always have them or you can get blank cubes at a craft store and right the numbers on yourself) that have the actual numbers instead of dots so he has to read the number "4" and then go that many spaces.

Another great one is just the old card game "War." You just split the deck between the players then everyone deals from the top of their stack. The person with the highest card wins the hand. There's no strategy involved, you just have to look at the cards played and figure out who's has the highest value.

My son actually likes the "Math Bingo" game you can find from time to time in the dollar bins at Target, but you have to do some basic computation for that one (the call cards say like 5+7 and you find 12 on your board), but you could adapt it if needed.

Good luck,

T.

When he's a little older, you might want to try playing Casino with him.
My parents played this game with me when I was a kid
and I enjoyed it; didn't realize they were helping me with arithmetic.
It's a "grown-up" card game that includes adding numbers together.
The directions can probably be found by googling and/or in a book
about card games.

Hi Ho Cherry-o is a good basic math board game and one of my favorites as a kid.

http://www.amazon.com/Hasbro-44703-Hi-Ho-Cherry-O/dp/B000...

Also flash cards and a parent currency system helped my kids (making fake dollars for your kids to earn prizes with) and five years old is old enough to understand this (to quote a friend "every good parent eventually becomes counterfeiters to teach their kids math).

Hi Lovebeinga mom,
We love dominos around here. My kids started with the double six version with bugs and now play the grown up version counting up to at least 20. Love!
I hope it helps!

L. L.