I remember when I was a child one of my favourite toys was the Little Professor, a handheld game toy which asked mathematical questions and kept score. It’s tag line was “Not a calculator and much more than a toy”, it was a ‘toy’ that I played with for years and I know without doubt that it helped my maths.
I’m a big believer in giving children gifts that they will enjoy playing with but will also help their learning so when I was asked by Learning Resources if I would like to review an item for them, I chose the Math Whiz Maths Challenge and I made the right decision.
When it arrived Little Bean disappeared for over an hour to play and told me “this is wicked, I’ll be really good at Maths with this”.
What they say:
Math Whiz Maths Challenge is ideal for reinforcing numeracy skills at home, in the classroom or when travelling! The Maths Whiz Maths Challenge provides on the go practice for a variety of maths skills and features electronic activities designed to reinforce addition, subtraction, multiplication and division while encouraging fact recall. Button style electronic play also supports calculator use. Children choose which skill they want to practice along with a skill level from one to eight. They then study the problem displayed on the screen before typing their answer using the calculator style key pad. The electronic game unit responds with a flashing face and sound effects to mark the given answer correct or incorrect.
What we say:
The Math Whiz is really easy to get started, it’s simply a case of switching it on, choosing addition, subtraction, multiplication and division and then choosing the skill level. Math Whiz will then ask you a series of questions, you input the answer and hope for a smiley face to indicate that you got it right. Math Whiz will keep score for you so you can keep a track on your child’s progress.
Being a handheld device, it’s really lightweight and compact which makes it the ideal travel companion for bored children. Little Bean and Beanie Boy have been playing on it after school, the minute one starts playing, the other wants a go and before you know it they will have been swapping back and forth for over an hour. It’s ideal for developing mental arithmetic and increasing confidence in maths. I have even caught Curly playing it a few times when he thinks nobody is watching too!
RRP £25.99
DISCLAIMER: We were sent the Math Whiz in exchange for our honest opinion. All words, images and opinions are my own and may not be copied without my permission.