I have long-since noticed that card games can be a great way to work on math skills in a playful way. Go Fish helps with number recognition and matching, War works on greater than and less than and comparing numbers, and Memory teaches concentration and hones remembering skills.
Which is why I wasn't too surprised to learn about the Matics math game from Kabuki Helps. Kids like games, cards help with math - it seemed a good fit.
The difference about these cards, as compared to a regular deck of playing cards, is the colorful shapes illustrating each number. I also loved that there was no letter cards (K, J, Q, or A). Kay is just not ready to understand "J means 11" and I'm sure other kids her age are the same.
With cards numbered from 0-12, this deck of cards can be used to different games as your child gets older and learns more. The most basic is a simple war-type game, which is how we used them. But you can also move up to using these cards to play addition, subtraction and multiplication games, or even the "Matics' Challenge," combining addition skills with a bit of logic.
For the preschool set, this is a great way to "show" that, say, 8 is more than 1. (They can count the 8 circles and see how many more there are than the 1 heart.) Kay is pretty good at this version and it's almost time for us to move up to the addition.
Games of any kind are a great way to sneak in some learning. I believe kids learn best when they're having fun. Matics is one way to do that!
(My daughter's only criticism: She would prefer there was a princess on the back of the cards, instead of a monster! Can you tell she's going through a "princess" phase?)
Games of any kind are a great way to sneak in some learning. I believe kids learn best when they're having fun. Matics is one way to do that!
(My daughter's only criticism: She would prefer there was a princess on the back of the cards, instead of a monster! Can you tell she's going through a "princess" phase?)
Ready to get your own set?
Kabuki Helps has generously offered to give P is for Preschooler readers 10% off the purchase price - because you rock! Just use the discount code Preschool.