Maths help for parents of children aged 5 to 11

Sparklebox review from mathsblog.co.uk

It’s a while since I reviewed the Sparklebox website and since then they have made some big changes. Most importantly, you can now download all their resources FREE OF CHARGE, subject to the usual copyright.

Now this makes it a really valuable site, right up there with the best for a range of maths resources. They have some great coloured charts, flash cards etc , ideal if you have a colour printer. I really do recommend this site if you have young children - it goes right to the top of my list.

Topmarks.co.uk

Topmarks Education has had a presence on the web for over 9 years, being launched in September 1998 by Chris and Sue Spolton.
It has three main aims:
1. To provide easy access to the best educational websites
2. To help teachers use the web in the classroom
3. To support parents who want to help their children.
Going right through from the earliest years to Higher Education it is a huge bank of links to other sites which provide free resources. Not just maths but just about every subject you could think of.
It is well organised into subject areas on the Home Page. Choose your subject (Maths obviously!) and there is a dropdown menu for choosing the appropriate age range. With over 70 sites to look at just for maths it is certainly a site you would want to bookmark and come back to.

Interest

Ease of use

Maths content

Timez Attack

Are you spending tedious hours trying to get your children to learn their tables? Would you like to get your children pleading to learn their tables? Well if the Timez Attack blurb is true to its word your kids will love this. Coming from the Big Brainz site, they obviously like their zzzzs!

The Timez Attack base version is a free download of about 43 MB consisting of a high-tech and entertaining video game aimed at improving tables. Graphics are excellent, on a par with many video games. Your children will probably find their way around far better than you as they explore the dungeon and overcome monsters, at first to master their two times table. (more…)

Mathszone.

A commendable idea: to collect a variety of free games and activities from different sites which can be used for teaching maths in school or at home. Organised into 9 categories:
Use and apply maths
Count and understand
Number facts, add and subtract
Number facts, multiply and divide
Calculating, add and subtract
Calculating, multiply and divide
Shape
Measuring
Handling data. (more…)

atschool

atschool has been around for some years now. It covers KS1 and KS2 in a range of areas or ‘classrooms’ as they are known. It does have a lot of material on the site, not just maths, and there is a small amount of material which you can freely access. Most, however, is only available if you subscribe. (more…)

BBC BackPage

Interesting idea - a place for parents, grandparents and carers to share video clips about how to help children with their maths homework. This is a prototype site which will be up and running for just 4 months to begin with. It is organised into year groups (just like this blog!) but not all year groups are covered yet. (more…)

Hmm. Let’s get slightly controversial. Browsing for maths dictionaries I found ‘A Maths Dictionary for Kids’ by Jenny Eather on CD on the Cambridge-Hitachi site. Now it was difficult to find a price on this site so I went to R-E-M and also found it there, for sale for £115.09 inc VAT.

Now I know that this is an excellent dictionary as I have used it before - great graphics and clear explanations - but over £100 seems rather expensive. And it seems even more expensive when I can access it free of charge at A Maths Dictionary for Kids by Jenny Eather.

(more…)

Sparklebox Looking for some bright and lively graphics to print out and don’t mind using your colour printer.

Sparklebox provides teaching resources ( but no reason why parents can’t use them) for a whole range of subjects, including maths. (more…)

Primary Resources Gareth Pitchford

Free maths stuff for 5 to 11 year olds produced in Word, pdf, Powerpoint and Flash! Can’t be bad!!

Primary resources is another of those UK sites which has been around a long time (9 years), increasing its content on a regular basis. Designed for teachers, it aims to develop a resource bank for teachers contributing their own ideas - in return everyone gets free access to the material. Parents are more than welcome to use the material.

(more…)

NRICH maths club Celebrating ten years online this site started well and has continued to grow, now claiming to be the largest maths site online. It includes a huge variety of free resources.

A real winner, especially if you have a bright child who enjoys investigating maths for the fun of it. Activities include puzzles, problem solving, investigations and games to play against the computer. A wide range of topics are included but the best way to get started is to look at this month’s edition and try some activities. For this June the main theme is angles and triangles, with trig for older pupils.

(more…)