Numicon uses a very different approach from most maths programmes in that they use shapes to represent numbers. In this way children, through physically handling a shape, gain a mental image of a number and then cease to rely on the ‘concrete’ shape. The shapes are colourful, pleasing to handle and very robust – ideal for the Reception classroom. They also have a Home Kit to help with numbers from one to ten which includes a number book and CD of songs.
Originally designed for children in Early Years it is now used extensively by many teachers in Key Stage 2 as it can be used for addition, subtraction, multiplication and division as well as other arithmetic operations.
To get the best use of the resources there are a number of videos available on the site which are well worth looking at, as this approach breaks the restrictive trends of the Numeracy Strategy; always a good thing!
They also have a number of free resources for primary children (aged 5 – 11) to put on the wall at home at:
http://www.numicon.com/display_resources.html
If you are looking for a different approach to maths or have a child who is really struggling with understanding number then I would certainly recommend this site.