Math Games Puzzles

How Do I Get My Kids to Love Math? By Kelly J Thomas

Mathematics can be a fascinating subject. Once kids start liking it, the chances are they are going to spends hours solving math problems on their own. They will simply, enjoy mathematics and try to learn more about algebra and arithmetic. Watching your kids getting better in mathematics can be a worthwhile experience. After all, math is required to excel in any well respected professions. If your child is good in math then he can choose to become an economist, attorney or an engineer. However, if your child is having problems with math or you want him to love mathematics, you can follow these tips:


You can create a story that involves math puzzles which can be solved by your kids. For example you can use the story of the three little pigs to create mathematical problems. A good question can be: Once upon a time there were three little pigs, ages 3, 7 and 9. Are these ages in even or odd numbers? Another good question can be: pig number 1 wanted to create a house from straws, a bundle of straws cost $3. He needs four bundles of straws. How much will he spend?

One of the great ways of developing your kid’s interest in math is through supplemental math books. Try buying books that are interesting to read, so that your child is motivated to solve math problems. Children often like books that have picture puzzles or their favorite cartoon characters in them. They can help your child in improving his mathematics skills.

Provide a positive learning environment to your children. If your child is stuck at any point, help him. Try reviewing problem areas to find out where he needs extra guidance. Communicate with the teacher on a frequent basis about your child’s performance. Let the teacher know where your child is facing difficulties, so that he or she provides him the needed assistance. Your child will do much better in math if you make him practice math exercises on regular basis.

Most children start disliking math because their homework exercises are too difficult. If you want your child to love mathematics then you should help him in his homework. When he is finished with his assignment, you should check it for any mistakes. Most of the time children do the proper working but they make mistakes while doing calculations. If that’s the case, then give credit to your child for the proper working and make him practice arithmetic calculations. However, if your child tends to do mistakes in working, then carefully guide him about the proper method. Tell him the basic concepts behind procedures. Math is about concepts rather then rote learning. If you are unsure about a certain problem, then tell the teacher to help your child in doing it.

You can make math easier for your kids by making them learn multiplication tables. This will make the multiplication exercises easier for them. A good way to do that is by using real life examples, so that your child develops a liking and basic understanding for mathematics. For example, ask your child to multiply the number of chairs to the tables in the classroom.

You can increase your child’s interest in mathematics by telling him its importance in daily life. Children can be taught how to compare prices of the same goods in different weights. You can teach them about getting the correct change when they shop for goods. Involving them in a gardening project is an effective way of increasing their fondness for math. Simply, teach them how much fertilizer they need to purchase for a lawn. Other things that you can teach them include how much paint they need to paint various rooms in the house. Most of the highly sought after jobs require math. Tell them that the job of engineer, financial advisor and stockbroker all require good skills in mathematics.

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Printable Math Puzzles

Math Help Can Be A Good Family Activity
By Ann R Knapp

We all use math in our everyday lives. Many of us consider ourselves to be “math phobic”, “math deficient” or “mathematically challenged.” Perhaps we communicate these ideas to our children or perhaps we and our children truly are any or all of the above. In educational institutions, where math is taught largely in the abstract and without practical application, particularly in the elementary grades, this inability comes as no surprise.

Have you ever tried to teach someone how to tie shoelaces by describing the process? Did you learn to cook pancakes by reading about the process of mixing flour, eggs, milk, and baking powder? Was your driver’s license awarded to you after reading an article on how to parallel park? Let us hope not.

Most of us learn best in the arena of practical experience. Given enough opportunity to practice a skill in context, we can learn to tie shoelaces, cook, drive, and even sew, iron, build a house, wire a lamp and - yes - apply mathematical principles in appropriate and accurate ways. Of course, there are those who need extra help because of neurological, physiological or other deficiencies or differences, but most of us learn best in the arena of practical experience.

My father was a talented clothing manufacturer with a tenth-grade education. He ran a successful women’s skirt business for years, supervising the cutting and design of fashion skirts in expensive fabrics. He discovered late in the 1950’s that circle skirts of various sizes were not accommodated well by the widths of fabric available to him, expensive fabric whose waste would mean less profit. As he was an honest businessman, he refused to cut corners - both literally and figuratively - and all of his skirts had to be made of one piece. Now, the waste would have driven up costs substantially had he not called into service his relatively educated son and daughter, eleventh and eighth grade students, who helped him to solve the problem of how to minimize his fabric costs while keeping his high standards.

As parents, we sometimes forget that our children are problem solvers of the first order. Not only is it good for us to help them to achieve competence in problem solving, but it is also great math practice if we allow them into the problems we need our own math skills to solve.

Abby and Josh own a bookstore. Books are stored in a storeroom in the back of the store. The dimensions of the room are ten feet high by twelve feet wide by eighteen feet deep. Most book boxes are eighteen inches by twenty-four inches. How many boxes can fit into their storage room? Their children, if they have had sixth grade math, should be able to help them with this inquiry, whether or not they need the help. Asking their children would not only involve them in a family activity but also show the children that those endless drills in school are toward a purpose prized by Mom and Dad.

Nate and Terry’s toddler busily engages in stringing different colored beads on a shoelace. He uses patterns that repeat. Their older child is sequencing frames of a newspaper comic strip which the parents have cut apart. These parents are teaching their children the valuable skills of sequence and pattern and they are reinforcing it by using the children’s hand-to-eye coordination so that they learn it by moving.

Mary and Ted’s children, Amanda, Charles and Sarah, are in the third, fifth and eighth grades. The children bicker in the car while on family road trips, which creates an unpleasant and unsafe environment. Mary and Ted have tried videos, games, food and word games. What they have not tried is calculating gas mileage, distance from point to point, map reading for scales of distance and shortest route drills, and license plate number games. While word games do require active participation (whereas videos and food do not require positive interaction), they are not experientially based or necessarily based on context. That is, they are based on a source of information but not on the current family activity. If children are given the tasks of calculating mileage per gallon and cost of transportation, they take a position in the planning and execution of the trip.

Maps are an almost limitless source of math experience, from the task of finding the shortest distance between two points to determining miles between points by using a scale and a ruler. License plate games, such as remembering numbers or finding mnemonic devices to remember the numbers, encourage both observation of surroundings and keep the children actively involved in using numbers and arithmetic operations.

We have grown all too determined to use entertainment and passive means of passing time. Using these family experiences to actively participate in mathematical pastimes not only gives children the skills to use their drills in relevant context but also brings the family into close proximity in a constructive and enjoyable manner.

Consider the following expression, quoted from a poem by William Wordsworth: “The child is father of the man.” When you plant in your young child the belief that she or he is powerful in what she or he has learned, you create a more powerful and competent adult, powered by confidence and competence.

Math Made Easy provides Math help for Algebra help, Geometry help, math homework help using math online tutorial services and math tutorial cd so you can watch your math scores soar.

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Math Games In The Classroom - Now Everyone Can Enjoy Math
By Sheryl Wood

You know who those students are. No matter what you do as a teacher, they just hate math. Perhaps there is a simple concept they never picked up in the earlier grades, or maybe they just don’t care for numbers. You can make the class as exciting as possible, but some children are just more interested in other subjects. One way to motivate those students who really would rather be in another class is with computerized math games.




Math games do not replace the need for a teacher. There is nothing that educational software can teach in math that can be taught without a teacher. Math is one of those subjects that really requires an instructor. However, math games can be used to reinforce and reward in the math classroom.

Imagine if you are teaching junior high math and realize that some of your students do not know how to add and subtract. If you have to take valuable class time to teach these basic elementary math skills, the rest of your students will suffer. However, if this student group is not able to do simple addition or subtraction, they are going to struggle all year. One way to encourage them to practice in a fun, competitive way without detracting from the overall class is to allow them to play math games. Maybe time can be set aside regularly and designated as free time. Students who need to reinforce skills can get extra math practice and students already at grade level can start homework or be challenged at a higher level. Teachers can set up the math games so that they focus on areas that need reinforcement. You can make random groups and rotate them so all of your students get a chance to play during the week. This way, certain students are not identified and all students receive important practice.

One benefit of math games that is often overlooked is the fact that the students are working independently. Sometimes those students who struggle in subjects, especially math, are embarrassed about their difficulties. If you were to play a group practice game or ask them to answer questions orally, they might be too embarrassed to try their best. On the computer, however, these students are not faced with their peers. They can progress through the math games at their own level, gaining valuable practice each day.

As you are shopping for math games, you need to realize that there is a wide range of products available. You will still be able to find traditional math games. These are the games where students practice their basic facts with arcade-like programming. But, math games are no longer only the arcade-style games you may remember. You can find software that contains your students’ favorite cartoon or movie characters. As they move through the levels they must answer math questions to proceed. Tracking student’s progress and the cability to personalize lessons to the student’s ability are features of some math game software. Students advance levels once they’ve reached competency on skills being worked on. Some math games have features that encourage and build analytical skills, problem approach, logic and systematic thinking. While your students may not realize this is math, you know that these thinking skills are essential to finding success in the subject. You can even purchase mystery programs where the students act as detectives solving “math mysteries.”

Whatever program you decide to use in your math classroom, be sure to set aside time when the students can play math games. Interactive math games are one way to introduce and reinforce math concepts with an entertaining medium. With math games, math can become a little bit more fun for everyone.

Math games can make developing math skills fun & games! Check out our wide selection at All Educational Software.com

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