Everyday Math is used by us in some manner; whether it is for paying the bill of grocery/household items bought or handling personal financial transactions.
Hence, developing certain math skills and understanding a few basic concepts is an essential component in a child’s life to prepare them for a career or just to carry out the activities of daily living.
Quite a few kids find math difficult to use in everyday life, frustrating to understand, or even boring to learn as a whole.
But with the help of educational games, students are given access to a window where they are able to practice important skills, stay engaged in the learning process, and enjoy themselves at the same time.
One of the most popular games know as ‘Monopoly’ deals with handling one’s own transactions and wealth, which gives children a chance to practice an important life skill in an imaginative world.
Since the game engages the player to use money management skills and understand the strategies of investment, children are able to pretend that they are property owners (of some sort) and make other players pay rent accordingly.
Another popular board game among children known as ‘Race Around the Clock’ helps children practice the necessary art of telling what time of the day it is and calculating the elapsed time, while trying to make their way around the clock.
Another favorite among all age groups is the card game ‘Uno’, which engages students to practice number-identification and counting, along with strategy planning.
Other games which help children sharpen their math skills include Qwirkle, Ticket to Ride, and Math Dash.
There are a multitude of online math games that can help students sharpen their math skills and acquire new ones.
The other beneficial qualities children acquire on playing such online games, include ‘Independence’, tracking their own progress, adaptability, better response time and improved cognitive abilities.
Such games can be found online on websites such as ‘Mathplayground’ which can help kids practice in the areas of number patterns, coding and graphing; students can also engage themselves in strategic games that peak their interests on this site.
Another such website known as ‘Education.com’ allows students to practice their counting skills by creating a virtual pizza or solving basic algebraic equations during a game of Basketball.
‘Prodigy’ is another innovative online math program that parents and teachers can use to help their children excel in certain math areas.
While students participate in games to improve their skills, tutors and parents can use this data extracted from a Child’s game to become aware of the strengths and weaknesses of an individual child.
Accordingly they can depend upon online tutoring websites such as eTutorWorld to help a child clear his/her concepts and doubts in a particular area of math. Such online tutoring websites include facilities such as a free first lesson and free solvable worksheets.
When assessing a particular game (either online or manual), it is important to ensure that it entails the essential qualities of an educational game. It should target a specific skill such as addition, time, money, or graphing.
The game should also have a targeted goal and a few obstacles so that it is challenging enough for a student in order to keep them engaged without boredom and motivate them to reach the next level, in the game as well as in the walk of life.