Mathseeds - Get a Free Four Week Trial Today!

We are fans of Reading Eggs, an online programme which features motivational reading games and phonics lessons for children aged three and up.  My little boy Freddy  is quite a reluctant learner, but as he is still only four I am not concerned!  However, he really enjoys the games with the fun characters that keep learning interesting, engaging and kid friendly. I have an annual subscription to Reading Eggs and the apps downloaded onto my phone so I can entice Freddy with some phonics fun at home.  So when we were asked to review Mathseeds on a free trial, which is an online programme designed to make mathematics fun for little ones, I was very interested in seeing how Freddy got on.  He has always been good at counting and numbers so he was very interested in getting stuck in and playing the games.

Mathseeds teaches kids aged 3-6 core maths and problem solving skills, starting with simple number and shape recognition and moving on as the child progresses.  The games are very engaging and Freddy is enjoying consolidating his knowledge and learning new skills.  The games are very user friendly and children can play independently. Children personalise an acorn avatar that moves around a map as the child completes the lessons.  You can earn acorn points which can be exchanged for accessories to further personalise the avatar and his treehouse home which gives children an incentive to complete tasks.  Freddy really enjoyed this element of the game. Cute cartoon pets are hatched at the end of each lesson, which adds an element of fun and rewards children on their progress.  Lessons can be repeated as often as necessary and children can progress at their own speed.

I am really impressed to have such an engaging and comprehensive maths programme online to support my son's learning.  He loves computer games and is happy playing on Mathseeds.  He thinks he is just having fun, which to me is the best sort of learning a child can do!

An annual subscription costs £29.95.  Mathseeds can be played on a PC or Tablet and is iPad and Android compatible.

Find out more at mathseeds.co.uk

Readers of my blog can enjoy an extended free trial using the promotional code UKB26MST. This will give you a 4 week free trial instead of the usual 2 weeks all new registrations receive.  So you can try before you buy!

A Game to Improve Numeracy Skills - PLYT

PLYT is a new game that combines the idea of a traditional board game with multiplication.  Using 12 sided die, the aim of the game is to multiply the numbers thrown on two or more of the dice in a race to get to the winner's square.  Chance cards can help or hinder this along the way, adding an extra element to the game.

The game can be played with two to six players of varying ability, by giving each player a different number of dice to multiply together according to their numeracy skills.  If the answer is correct, players move forward the number shown on the master dice which is a different colour to the others.

I attempted this game with 11 year old Kizzy and 4 year old Freddy, but even though the game is suitable for children aged 4 and up, it wasn't suitable for Freddy who had no concept of multiplying anything, nor had any interest in moving pieces around the square board.  He liked throwing the dice into the bowl but that was it.  He's not ready for PLYT yet. Kizzy however was ready to flex her numeracy muscles with some times table practice.

We loved the idea of the twelve sided dice and throwing two of them to randomly select a multiplication from the twelve times table.  (Somehow much more exciting than your standard six sided cubed dice!) But using any further dice made the calculations a bit tricky.  Multiplying 8 x 9 x 12 together was a bit beyond Kizzy without writing it down. This made the game painfully slow and games like this need to be fast paced to keep the children engaged.  So we stuck to the 12x table with the two die approach.

The chance cards saw the play pieces moved up and down levels and gave opponents benefits which added an element of fun and kept it as anyone's game right through to the end.

There are lots of different ways you can use the game to support numeracy skills, but as we only had the game on loan we stuck to the simplest version.  Rolling two dice, answering the multiplication and moving the number thrown on the master dice.  It is simple to follow.

I can see this would be a fabulous resource in schools to develop numeracy, the learning of times tables and the mental maths process in a fun way.  I can imagine it would be a huge benefit in increasing recall speed and mental agility. I'm sure a child's maths would improve through playing this game and school children would love to play a game during their maths' lessons - what a treat!

It would appeal to kids who find maths fun and who want an added mathematical challenge to their board games.  Unfortunately Kizzy found it "a bit like having to do homework"...but that's possibly not a bad thing!

Find out more at www.plyt.co.uk


We were sent this game on loan to try out and return and we received no payment for doing this review.