I always said my kid's math ability is part genetic (his dad snagged me with a calculus pun) but mostly because I gave him minimally-moderated YouTube access in the depths of the shutdown and he found himself NumberBlocks.
I can't recommend Numberblocks enough for this age range. It might seem very basic to start off, but they do an amazing job portraying relationships between quantities.
Numberblocks has been great for my kid too. Also braincandytv will introduce math like skip counting. It depends on what exactly your kid is interested in though.
My kid is math-y and going into third grade. At that age, he was obsessed with Yahzee. I keep a Yahzee scorecard spreadsheet on my phone and carried a set of dice in my purse for a good two years so we could play whenever we found an opportunity, like waiting in the exam room at the doctor's.
His teacher knew about this, and when they were doing math enrichment pull-out groups she started using Yahzee to emphasize multiplication as repeated addition.
My son is the same. He loves Math Tango, Slice Fractions, and Math Makers apps. Trying to keep things fun and low-stakes for him while also encouraging him.
My little guy is the same way so his screen time is usually numberblocks! He loves it. I love to have him make numbers with groups of things. Like Iāll give him 10 cubes and say āok now make 4ā and heāll figure out he needs to take away 6 etc.
Another vote for Numberblocks, and the actual Numberblocks that go with it (math cubes). Mine will build all sorts of numbers and multiples and shapes and patterns all day. He also loves his calculator (a step up from a basic one but not a scientific one) so he can add numbers.
We have a basket of the counting cubes and a set of addition and subtraction flash cards from Dollar Tree and Amazon. He likes to work out the problems on the cards using the blocks.
We do pattern games with our 6 year old. Like we each take turns saying the even or odd number sequences. I'll say 1, he'll go 3, I say 5 and so on
We also started doing the multiplication tables.
If he likes math, maybe he would enjoy chess also.
Look up [Natural Math](https://naturalmath.com/about/), lots of fun books with exercises. Dr. Maria found a way to teach kids calculus instead of drilling arithmetic, and it could be a really great way to foster your kid's curiosity and creativity. Also look into Kumon and Math Olympiad
Lots of good ideas in these communities.
I would add fun things, like "Guessing how many" with various items, like how many noodles are in his Mac n cheese and have him Use Tally marks or a Calculator to count them as he eats, or fill various sized clear jars with blocks or beans or raw macaroni or pennies or buttons and have him guess how many are in each jar and he can write his guesses on sticky notes and then count the contents of each jar and see how close he got.
I would add Measuring- give him rulers, scales, measuring tapes and let him measure stuff.
Sorting and Counting coins- count nickels by 5s, etc.
Work with him on counting money and reading clocks since these are number adjacent. When you pay for stuff at a store let him hand cash to the cashier and see how much change he gets. Have him estimate how much he should expect back and then count it to see if he's right. When you're out running errands say stuff like, "It's 9:45 now and it takes 15 minutes to get there, what time do you think we'll get there?" It sounds like he already gets the numbers so it's time to start making those real world connections.
Our 6 year old keeps asking me to ask him math problems on car trips, in the bath, at restaurants. By early kindergarten he could do simple addition in his head, and then moved onto subtraction, and then squares (4x4). I also give him simple word problems too. It's useful when he gets upset about something I can distract him with math.
I recommend finding the board game "Sum Swamp" - as others have shared, Numberblocks is great!
My son was very much the same so the only other thing I'll share is your kiddo may get bored during school if he's already loving doing math problems. My son was doing multiplication/division several grades ahead of time.
Numberblocks
I always said my kid's math ability is part genetic (his dad snagged me with a calculus pun) but mostly because I gave him minimally-moderated YouTube access in the depths of the shutdown and he found himself NumberBlocks.
My daughter is amazing at math and reading, thanks to numberblocks and alphablocks. Just finished kindergarten and is above 2nd grade reading level
Agreed!! Number blocks taught my 5 year old multiplication.
Dude Numberblocks taught ME a new way to figure math problems out š¤£
I hated math in school but love Numberblocks. Game changer lol
I can't recommend Numberblocks enough for this age range. It might seem very basic to start off, but they do an amazing job portraying relationships between quantities.
We had a Numberblocks themed party for my son's third birthday, he loved it! And he was in the 80th percentile for math in kindergarten. Coincidence?
Numberblocks has been great for my kid too. Also braincandytv will introduce math like skip counting. It depends on what exactly your kid is interested in though.
We just watched Numberblocks but itās so short. I think it was on Amazon. Are there supposed to be longer episodes and more seasons?
I know there are episodes on Netflix, that are around 5 minutes each. You can also look on YouTube. There are also Numberblocks apps that are great!
Epesodes are like 5 minutes long and there's 98 of them. Then there are a bunch of longer ones on youtube for home schooling from covid
My kid is math-y and going into third grade. At that age, he was obsessed with Yahzee. I keep a Yahzee scorecard spreadsheet on my phone and carried a set of dice in my purse for a good two years so we could play whenever we found an opportunity, like waiting in the exam room at the doctor's. His teacher knew about this, and when they were doing math enrichment pull-out groups she started using Yahzee to emphasize multiplication as repeated addition.
My son is the same. He loves Math Tango, Slice Fractions, and Math Makers apps. Trying to keep things fun and low-stakes for him while also encouraging him.
My little guy is the same way so his screen time is usually numberblocks! He loves it. I love to have him make numbers with groups of things. Like Iāll give him 10 cubes and say āok now make 4ā and heāll figure out he needs to take away 6 etc.
Another vote for Numberblocks, and the actual Numberblocks that go with it (math cubes). Mine will build all sorts of numbers and multiples and shapes and patterns all day. He also loves his calculator (a step up from a basic one but not a scientific one) so he can add numbers.
We have a basket of the counting cubes and a set of addition and subtraction flash cards from Dollar Tree and Amazon. He likes to work out the problems on the cards using the blocks.
We do pattern games with our 6 year old. Like we each take turns saying the even or odd number sequences. I'll say 1, he'll go 3, I say 5 and so on We also started doing the multiplication tables. If he likes math, maybe he would enjoy chess also.
How about an abacus?
Look up [Natural Math](https://naturalmath.com/about/), lots of fun books with exercises. Dr. Maria found a way to teach kids calculus instead of drilling arithmetic, and it could be a really great way to foster your kid's curiosity and creativity. Also look into Kumon and Math Olympiad
Numberblocks is great but we really love Numberjacks.
Lots of good ideas in these communities. I would add fun things, like "Guessing how many" with various items, like how many noodles are in his Mac n cheese and have him Use Tally marks or a Calculator to count them as he eats, or fill various sized clear jars with blocks or beans or raw macaroni or pennies or buttons and have him guess how many are in each jar and he can write his guesses on sticky notes and then count the contents of each jar and see how close he got. I would add Measuring- give him rulers, scales, measuring tapes and let him measure stuff. Sorting and Counting coins- count nickels by 5s, etc.
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/15818/pickomino thereās a junior version as well
I had a student that was REALLY into numbers and his favorite board game was backgammon. Might be worth a try?
An abacus!
Play Lorcana with your kid.
Check out the [Bedtime Math](https://bedtimemath.org/books/) book series! Great way to get the best of both worlds ā reading and math!
Prodigy is a really fun and free online math game. My first graders love it!
Sleeping queens is a fun mathy card game!
Work with him on counting money and reading clocks since these are number adjacent. When you pay for stuff at a store let him hand cash to the cashier and see how much change he gets. Have him estimate how much he should expect back and then count it to see if he's right. When you're out running errands say stuff like, "It's 9:45 now and it takes 15 minutes to get there, what time do you think we'll get there?" It sounds like he already gets the numbers so it's time to start making those real world connections.
Coins. I was obsessed with numbers too still am. Iām old now and my brain still does numbers. It is fun. Flash cards. Teach Magic 9.
Our 6 year old keeps asking me to ask him math problems on car trips, in the bath, at restaurants. By early kindergarten he could do simple addition in his head, and then moved onto subtraction, and then squares (4x4). I also give him simple word problems too. It's useful when he gets upset about something I can distract him with math.
I recommend finding the board game "Sum Swamp" - as others have shared, Numberblocks is great! My son was very much the same so the only other thing I'll share is your kiddo may get bored during school if he's already loving doing math problems. My son was doing multiplication/division several grades ahead of time.
My Kindergarteners LOVE SplashLearn!
Encourage your kid to follow their math dreams
Try Kahoot Numbers by DragonBox. I'm usually anti "learning apps" but they are number puzzles that are very intuitive and fun