Maths Games Which Help Kids Get Better At Maths!

Do you worry about helping your child with their maths homework?

Are you home educating your child and dreading the daily maths lessons?

Is your child falling behind in maths at school because they need more time to understand and practise the basic principles?

Perhaps your child is bright at maths and needs to go faster than the rest of the class to stay interested?

When my daughter lost confidence in maths a few years ago, I subscribed to a then-new online animated maths tutor, Maths-Whizz. Within a few months Tilly was not only right back where she should be, but was actually working at least a year above expectations for her age group at school (and sadly she had taken Maths Whizz as far as it would go). She enjoyed her animated lessons and games, and was never reluctant to sign in to her "room". She has remained confident with maths ever since.

Since then, Maths-Whizz has gone from strength to strength.

* It has added an extra two years to its offering, and now caters for children from 5 to 13.
* It has successfully entered the US market with Math-Whizz.
* Over 4000 schools in both the UK and US have signed up for its online services as well as over 30,000 home users.
* Results over the years have shown that students who use Maths-Whizz for at least 45 minutes a week get better at maths.

And now a free version has been launched which offers a "taster" of the Whizz service - and I'm thrilled that I am able to offer that free version for you within Activity Village. All you need to do is click on the link, choose whether you are following a UK or US curriculum, and create a free account - then your child can start getting better at maths!

Try Maths-Whizz

Incidentally, Whizz have furnished me with the following interesting facts:

* Students typically make an internal decision in their own mind by the age of 9 on whether they are good at maths or not. Once they have made that decision it is hard to turn it around if it is negative.

* Students who are confident and good at maths at primary/elementary school typically end up doing well in maths at secondary school. Students who struggle by the end of primary/elementary school usually fail in maths at secondary school.

* Students who leave secondary school with a pass grade in maths have, statistically, higher incomes in their working life.

* Being confident in maths contributes to success in other school subjects.

In simple terms, the sooner you support them to become confident in maths, the better their future prospects are.

OK, but why personalised tutoring? Isn’t school enough?

Each child really has their own unique maths profile. This is why it is so difficult for teachers in school to cater for every child’s individual needs – because they are all so different! More confident students may find their “maths age” (ability) is ahead of their actual age, whereas less confident students may find their “maths age” is lower than their actual age. Furthermore, their ability may vary across the different topics. An eight year old may find that she is ahead in addition, but struggling and behind in fractions.

It is virtually impossible for a teacher to cater to each individual child’s specific needs in a school / classroom scenario. As a result many students who don’t use Maths-Whizz, or some other form private tuition, find they are unchallenged or, worse, left behind and can lose confidence and fail to reach their potential as a result.

This can affect students for the rest of their lives. Many adults lack confidence in basic maths and this can affect their personal confidence, earnings and employment prospects.

Give your child the Maths-Whizz Advantage! Compared to other forms of tutoring, such as private tuition or taking your child to learning centres like Kumon, Maths-Whizz Tutoring Plus:

* is more fun, which means students gain more enjoyment out of maths
* provides you with measurable results (you can view those with live progress reports)
* is more convenient. Access over the internet from the comfort of your home
* generates proven results (see website for details)
* is better value for money.

Try Maths-Whizz

Chess For Kids!

Chess is an excellent game for kids. It teaches them strategic thinking, logic and it's fun, too! We have the rules of Chess, here, written so that children can understand them. Read online or download a printable version. And if you are desperate to start playing chess straight away and don't have a chess board or chess men, we have some printable versions of those, too!

Chess For Kids

Monsters Theme!

Children - boys in particular - enjoy inventing, drawing and playing with "monsters" - especially as monsters break all the rules and have as many eyes and legs and tails and colours as children can imagine! We have some really cute monsters in our new monsters theme, and you will find some imaginative monster craft ideas, cute monster printable games, monster worksheets and story starters ... in sort, lots for monster fans! And of course, monsters are fun at Halloween, too...
Monsters Theme

Halloween Printables - Yes, more!

Good practice for little hands! Use these Halloween cutting shapes to make a mobile, decorate the house, or stick to cards and invitations.
Halloween Cutting Shapes


We've got lots of new printable Halloween games today: a matching game, a sorting game and a set of Halloween dominoes...
Halloween Games

Alphabet Matching Game

Print these gorgeous Alphabet Matching Game cards and use them in many ways in classroom or home - as a file folder game, memory game or as ABC flashcards.

Alphabet Matching Game

Ideas for using the alphabet matching game cards:

* As mini alphabet flashcards
* As a file folder game. Cut out and glue one set of cards randomly on the inside spread of a file folder. Cut the other cards out, and store each set separately. Can your child match up the cards?
* As a memory game. Shuffle two sets together (or a matching selection from two sets). Place them all face down on the table and take turns turning two cards over. If they match, remove them from the display. If they don't, try to memorise where they are and turn them back over again. Turning another two cards over.
More alphabet game ideas

Christmas Games - some printable, all fun!

We've got some fun new Christmas Games for you this year, including this Christmas Tree Game Board and Cards to print, cut out and play with your children. Other favourites include the Christmas Card Jigsaw Game and Race, Pass The Bauble, and our printable Christmas Boxes.
Christmas Games

Mother's Day Puzzles for Kids

We've added Mother's Day word searches, mazes and cryptograms to the website today...
Mother's Day puzzles

Valentine's Day Games and Activities

Whether for the family, a group of friends, a classroom or a full-blown Valentines party, we have a new page of Valentine's Day games and activities for all ages...
Valentine's Day Games and Activities

More Valentine's Day Puzzling Fun for Kids

If you are looking for a last-minute activity for the children, try these new Valentine's Day cryptograms - they should keep the kids busy for a little while!
Valentine's Day Cryptograms

New Kids Puzzles - The Pyramid Challenge

Our newest maths puzzle, the Pyramid Challenge, gives your child practice with early addition skills. We have 5 levels of increasing difficulty, and also some blank pages which you can print to make your own puzzles.

Pyramid Challenge

Traditional Chinese Games - Huge New Section!

To link in with our Chinese New Year page, we have just added a huge (and growing) collection of Traditional Chinese Games which you can enjoy with your family. You will find playground games such as Catch The Dragon's Tail and Forcing The City Gates, quiet guessing games like Fingers Out, traditional girl's games like "Look For Gold", similar to Jacks or Knucklebones, and lots more!
Traditional Chinese Games


We also have suggestions for Chinese New Year Games to play in your classroom or gathering, including some new printable games.
Chinese New Year Games

St David's Day Puzzles for Kids

St David's Day is celebrated in Wales and by Welsh people throughout the world on 1st March. We'll will be adding quite a new ideas for St David's Day activities for kids in the next week or so, and today we have added some new St David's Day puzzles for kids for you to print out.
St David's Day puzzles

Groundhog Day - printables, puzzles and jigsaws!

Groundhog Day is a US tradition originating from the German Candlemas day and brought to America by German settlers. On 2nd February, if the groundhog emerges from its winter hibernation and can see its shadow on the ground, it knows that winter will last at least another six weeks. If there is no shadow, there will be an early end to winter.

Find out more about Groundhog Day and have fun with it in your classroom or home using our new Groundhog Day activities:

Groundhog Day printables

Groundhog Day puzzles

Groundhog Day jigsaws

MLK Day Puzzles For Kids

Well, I know it is last minute, but I've just added two Martin Luther King Day puzzles to the site to keep the kids busy. There is a "how many words" puzzle for all ages, and a tricky crytogram featuring a Dr Martin Luther King Jr quote, which should keep older children guessing for a while!

Martin Luther King Day puzzles

New Year Crafts for Kids

It is only 10 days until 2008 and you might be planning to celebrate the coming of the New Year with your kids - or put them to bed at the normal time and have an adult celebration! Either way, children love the concept of a "new" year and it is a good time to think about their aims for the year ahead and work on some personal or family goals.

On a practical level, if the kids are staying up you are going to need to keep them entertained way past their normal bedtime! We have New Year puzzles, New Year printables, New Year coloring pages, New Year jigsaws and a brand new page of New Year crafts which should help you to do that!

New Year for Kids

Hanukkah for Kids

If you are celebrating Hanukkah, or would like to learn something about this Jewish festival of lights which begins on 4th December this year, head over to our brand new Hanukkah For Kids pages, where you will find:

Hanukkah crafts - a brilliant collection of crafts from Sarah and Jack, including this fantastic Menorah banner

Hanukkah coloring pages

Hanukkah printables - writing paper for all ages and some printable crafts

Hanukkah cards to print and color

Hanukkah puzzles

Hanukkah links - other fun Hanukkah activities to enjoy with your children from around the web.

St Andrew's Day Fun For Kids

New at Activity Village is our St Andrew's Day page. St Andrew is the patron saint of Scotland and St Andrew's Day is celebrated on 30th November each year by Scots all around the world.

We have some brand new activities for your children on a Scottish theme - including some great colouring pages, an origami Loch Ness Monster, word searches, downloadable jigsaws, and a collection of flag and map printables.

St Andrew's Day for Kids

Online fun with this newspaper page generator

Your children will have fun with this online generator: simply type in your own date, heading and words and click "generate" to product a newspaper graphic like this one. The possibilities are endless! Perhaps you could use it for school projects, invitations, birth announcements, congratulatory messages, birthday cards...
Online newspaper generator

The Potato Story - (educational) fun for kids!

The Potato Story is a fun, interactive initiative by McCain Foods to help children understand the origins of the food they eat, plant growth and nutrition. The website is based on the journey a potato takes from a farmer’s field to your fork to help engage school children in ICT, literacy and numeracy.



Targeted to Key Learning Stage 2 (7-11 years of age), The Potato story includes lesson plans, interactive games and quizzes and teachers’ notes offering guidance and suggestions for classroom activities based around each module’s theme. Along with recipes to try in the classroom or at home, children can learn through the characters Cheeky Ladybird, Bossy Butterfly, Lazy Caterpillar, Busy Bee and Jolly Hen.

In addition to the website, The Potato Story will also be accompanied by a re-designed London route master bus which will support the launch of the in-classroom teaching resource by visiting schools to add an experiential element to the programme.

The Potato Story supports the Year of Food and Farming (http://www.yearoffoodandfarming.org.uk/), a government initiative aimed to get children interested in all aspects of the countryside, farming and food.

The idea for The Potato Story came from research commissioned by the British Heart Foundation which found that one in three children didn’t know that chips were made from potatoes! There will be no excuse for that now!

The Potato Story - (educational) fun for kids!

The Potato Story is a fun, interactive initiative by McCain Foods to help children understand the origins of the food they eat, plant growth and nutrition. The website is based on the journey a potato takes from a farmer’s field to your fork to help engage school children in ICT, literacy and numeracy.

Targeted to Key Learning Stage 2 (7-11 years of age), The Potato story includes lesson plans, interactive games and quizzes and teachers’ notes offering guidance and suggestions for classroom activities based around each module’s theme. Along with recipes to try in the classroom or at home, children can learn through the characters Cheeky Ladybird, Bossy Butterfly, Lazy Caterpillar, Busy Bee and Jolly Hen.

In addition to the website, The Potato Story will also be accompanied by a re-designed London route master bus which will support the launch of the in-classroom teaching resource by visiting schools to add an experiential element to the programme.

The Potato Story supports the Year of Food and Farming, a government initiative aimed to get children interested in all aspects of the countryside, farming and food.

The idea for The Potato Story came from research commissioned by the British Heart Foundation which found that one in three children didn’t know that chips were made from potatoes! There will be no excuse for that now!

The Potato Story