As a mom and teacher I’ve seen first-hand that utilizing online games can be both a helpful and very motivating tool for learners. While worksheets seem like a lot of work, online games seem like a lot of fun. In my quest to find the best available math Web sites, I ran across too many listed that offered links to math Web sites that were either no longer available, required a membership or were basically just an online math store.
My list of math Web sites includes only those that are free and have been personally kid tested and teacher/mom approved. None of these Web sites requires any form of registration or sharing of personal information. You can simply go there and play math games that mix math skills with online entertainment.
From a teacher or parent perspective, AAA Math, at www.aaamath.com, would be my favorite. It is so comprehensive and well organized. You can click on a grade level or a math lesson such as multiplication and then break it down even further by choosing something like “multiplication facts 7-9.” Kids can see a lesson, practice or play against a timer. AAA Math will tally scores and you can even print out reports for your records. What more could any one ask, right?
Well kids do want more. They want more fun, more flash, more color and more graphics. I wanted to tell you about AAA Math because it is a very helpful math Web site but I warn you that it lacks the “yea” factor where kids are concerned. To kids this one is like the online version of math worksheets. I still use it with my kids but always follow it with some time at a more fun math Web site.
Fun Fundamentals Math Web sites: FunBrain at www.funbrain.com/numbers.html
What can students do at the Fun Brain math Web site?
Kids can play games that work on fractions, addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. They can also choose from Easy, Medium, Hard and Super Brain so they can continue to challenge themselves as they succeed.
Why I like it:
If kids get an answer wrong, Fun Brain offers a tutorial on how to solve the problem.
Why kids like it:
The themes include soccer games, car racing and baseball games.
What I don’t love about it:
The directions aren’t always intuitive as the game is playing against you. Kids really need to fully read all of the directions in the How to Play box at the bottom first or they can get tripped up with why they didn’t score.
Fun and Flashy Math Web sites: Math Cats at www.mathcats.com
What can kids do at the Math Cats Web site?
The super flashy math Web site tells kids the date and the number of days passed in the year right up front. There are fun math challenges and math strategy games that mimic online video games. I love the Colors game myself. There are also fun ideas like how to make geometric shapes with your body and lots and lots of helpful conversion calculators for measurements for time, volume, distance and so on. Math Cats is just a fun math Web site to explore and it makes everyone want to be a math cat.
Why I like it:
It goes beyond simple math problems and offers math challenges that really build math thinking. The flashy cats are super cool.
Why kids like it:
It’s very colorful with lots of flash and a great variety of games, challenges and tools.
What I don’t like about it:
I couldn’t solve one of the riddles myself and I can’t find the answer!
Cool Math Web sites: Cool Math 4 Kids at www.coolmath4kids.com
What can kids do at the Cool Math 4 Kids Web site?
Kids can choose from many colorful math icons to play games, puzzles or brain benders or they can click on specific math task such as multiplication or addition to see math lessons or play math lesson related games.
Why I like it:
The math “lessons” are really well done in easy to understand language and illustrated too.
Why kids like it:
It’s a pretty psychedelic site. It doesn’t look “babyish” or “schoolish” my students say.
What I don’t like about it:
There are lots of tempting to click ads like “be in our next commercial” so I begin the games at this math Web site with a no clicking ads speech.
With these fun math Web sites, you can really “count” on learning math skills.
