timez attack

Arthur's been playing Timez Attack recently. It seems a really good way to do your times tables, just to get that basic, reflex knowledge of multiplication in your head. You defeat monsters by getting the sums on their chest right. (You're the little green fellow at the front.) And this is exactly what a hard exam question feels like.

And this is what getting it right feels like.

But then, although Timez Attack does seem to be a great way to get some simple rote stuff into your head, I wondered if presenting a sum as a monster to be defeated is quite the right way to get someone excited about the beauty of numbers. I never quite got that myself, I can see the joy in the patterns of music but not quite in numbers. But if Arthur stands a chance of getting that I'd like him to. I wonder if there's a game that lets you explore that. Anyone know? Or maybe I shouldn't worry about it. He's only 7. Or maybe we should be playing maths games in the sun with twigs and pebbles like a proper Dad would do.

Comments

[lauren]

going shopping is a great hands-on experience in using multiplication (and division) skills with a good retention rate. i.e if i buy 3 of these that are £4 each, how much will it cost? or i've got £20 to spend on art materials, how many packs of £5 pencils can i buy? and you can amp it up a little buy putting a time-limit on it too.

[John Dodds]

Or counting sushi items?

[robertogreco]

First time commenter here.

It's not a game, but The Number Devil by Hands Magnus Enzensberger would be a great book to read with him. My seven and eight year old loved it. I've also heard good things about the Murderous Maths series, yet haven't seen them yet.

And as for patterns in music, Mysterious Thelonious by Chris Raschka is a beautiful book.

The Number Devil:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Number-Devil-Mathematical-Adventure/dp/0805057706

Mysterious Thelonious:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Mysterious-Thelonious-Chris-Raschka/dp/0531300579

[Zach Rose]

One really fun way to get into math is through programming. It may not teach the reflex knowledge so much, but it's splendid for the more intuitive and interesting stuff like probability, patterns, and growth and decay.

When I was 9 I got really into MicroWorlds, which was great but didn't connect to anything physical or shareable. Just this week I've been introduced to the Arduino USB board and am back to my 9-year-old programming self, this time with speakers, LEDs and motors.

How much math goes into the Mindstorm legos?

MicroWorlds:
http://www.microworlds.com/solutions/index.html

Arduino:
http://www.arduino.cc/

[Zana]

Adding numbers on car plates, but I think that's already old.

[Jenni Lloyd]

my 8 year old has just started playing with Moshi Monsters. It's a Club Penguin-esque virtual world. You create a monster and earn credits by playing daily puzzles. He's loving it so far - I'm not sure of the educational value but it's fun and the more he plays the better the puzzles are attuned to his abilities. It's in Beta at the mo but I've got a spare code if you're interested.

As far as the beuaty of numbers go it's probably preferable to avoid anything too worthy and look for things that have concepts woven into the narrative. I liked the look of the book co-written by Stephen Hawking and his daughter:
http://icanhaz.com/hawking-kids-book