Games:

• Countdown!: addition, subtraction, and some multiplication.
• Yahtzee: addition and multiplication.
• Chess: strategy, patterns, critical thinking.
• Checkers: squares, diagonal, double, triple.
• Shutes and Ladders: numbers, patterns and addition.
• Manipulatives: sorting, counting, adding, subtracting.
• Legos: critical thinking, creativity, patterns, directions.
• Origami, paper airplanes, etc.
• Math games in the car: any number plus one is the next number and any number minus one is the previous number; choose a number and come up with as many ways to make that number as you can; calculations.
• Counting by multiples other than one. Let the kids pick a multiple and see how high you can go! (Jim is much better at this than I!)
• Card games: number recognition, rules, sorting, grouping, patterns, memory.
• Dominoes: matching, sight counting and addition.
• Dice games: number recognition, sight counting, addition and subtraction.
• Tangrams: pattern recognition, sorting, counting, tessellation, complex spatial recognition.
• Puzzles: pattern recognition and complex problem solving.

Computer Games:

• Loads of math games at Cyberchase.
• Logic games at Neopets.
• Zoombinis: logical reasoning, problem solving, classifying, variables and more!
• Clue Finders: addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, problem solving, sequencing, code breaking, etc.
• Sim Kids Games like SimCoaster, SimThemePark, SimTown: all kinds of mathematical concepts, logical thinking, problem solving, managing money.
• Jump Start Numbers: addition, subtraction, counting, sequences.

Other Resources:

• School House Rock
• Sir Cumference and the First Round Table by Cindy Neuschwander
• Sir Cumference and the Great Knight of Angleland by Neuschwnder
• Sir Cumference and the Dragon of Pi by Neuschwander
• Sir Cumference and the Sword in the Cone by Neuschwander
• Sir Cumference and the Isle of Immeter by Neuschwander

Shapes and Geometry:

• Geometry and dimensionality in different shapes and clay.
• Toys provide numerous opportunities for working with colors, shapes, geometry, spatial awareness.
• Leap frog onto different colors and shapes on floor.
• Painting allows color experimentation, primary and secondary colors.
• Gardening reinforces color recognition, pattern recognition and aesthetic combination.

Measuring:

• Baking, cooking and eating introduce concepts of fractions, division, greater than, less than, equal to.
• Kitchen tools cups, measuring spoons, etc. are great learning tools. We have a plastic beaker that has varying measurements around the side: cups, ounces, milliliters, tablespoons and teaspoons. Very cool.
• Tape measures and rulers provide countless opportunities for measuring bodies, chairs, toys, walls, you name it!
• Building garden beds, birdhouses, bat houses, trebuchets, etc. require accurate measuring to estimate, join and install materials.
• Planting garden beds requires measuring row and seed spacing or bulb depth.
• Scales provide lots of opportunities for measuring experiments, greater than, less than, and equal to. Don't overlook scales in the produce department!
• Nesting toys offer opportunity to sort by size, reinforcing greater than and lesser than.

Money and Economics:

• Money is often a great motivator, for better or worse, and our kids are part of our household budget. The kids and I figured out the percentage of our household budget spent on each major category as part of calculating our budget expenditures.
• Our kids chose $40 each as their working budget each month, and we decided together what budget items were part of their budget as well and then figured out their payments based on the same percentages. We had fun playing with excel pies and graphs.
• We then made envelopes for each category with the appropriate pictures on the front and the amount of each monthly payment and provided their total income in different monetary values, covering $5, $1, and all the coins, helping them count out the appropriate amount for each budget category and pay their bills.
• Whatever money is left over after paying bills is their money for personal use, providing a tangible grasp of where money goes, why and the input to decide whether it should continue to go there.
• We also provide plenty of opportunities for shopping and spending and even debt.

Time:

• Number recognition from zero to sixty.
• Telling time involves learning to count by fives, addition and subtraction.
• Time zones involve addition and subtraction to figure out what time it is where friends and relatives live; international date line.
• Stopwatch: measuring, greater than, less than and equal to.

Concepts Explored:

• Tessellations—shapes that combine with no gaps or overlaps.
• Symmetry/ Asymmetry in design.
• Any number plus one equals the next number; any number minus one equals the next number.
• Base number systems: ten, two, three.
• Counting by ones, fives, tens; coin recognition; money management; fiscal responsibility, percentages.
• Different units of measurement.
• Addition, subtraction, multiplication and division in number games and on paper.
• Carrying with double digits.
• Basic geometry, angles, dimensions.
• Basic algebra: solving for variables.