It’s difficult to make children love Maths if we ourselves, also hated (some of us, still hating) Maths. It is devastating to see our children experiencing difficulties in understanding maths concepts. For some people, drilling and self-learning are the keys when it comes to maths.
But, not for ALFA and Friends. ALFA and Friends have designed mathematic programmes for an in-school programme (Euler Maths) and after-school programme (ALFA and Friends Maths) to help children strengthen their foundation in mathematics. ALFA and Friends believe in teaching mathematics through a hands-on approach; therefore, ALFA and Friends provides maths manipulative tools to each child that joined the programmes.
Euler Maths is a preschool maths programme for children from aged 4 to 6 years old. Children will learn different topics across 3 levels. These topics are tailored for children to have strong foundation in maths as the pre-primary readiness and are filled with math games for kindergarteners. Euler Maths programme is adopted by the kindergartens in Malaysia as one of the core subjects. As for ALFA and Maths programme, this programme is designed for 4 to 8 years old to strengthen children foundation in Maths. The differences between these 2 programmes are:
Apart from the physical manipulative tools, by joining these programmes, children are also provided with workbooks to enhance children’s understanding. The maths manipulative tools are available for teachers and parents to use, in both versions, physical and digital.
Not everyone can think in an abstract world, especially children. They will need something to hold on to and manipulate to help the children understand a subject better, in this case, maths. Therefore, the maths manipulative tools provided for children, both the physical and digital version by ALFA and Friends in both programmes come useful in making our children love maths and making them easier to understand different concepts. By using the maths manipulative tools, children will be able to connect their ideas and gain a deep understanding of mathematical concepts. Maths is no longer just a numbers and symbols frenzy for the children, but they will see it as a part of their daily lives.
With the digital maths manipulative tools, it makes the learning possible to happen everywhere and anytime. With just a few clicks, children can exercise their maths skills.
Here are some examples of the digital tools available for you and your children!
1. Shape Puzzle
This tool is used to teach children about basic shapes such as rectangle, square, triangle, and circle. Children could also learn about comparison in determining the size of the shapes as sizes can be adjusted on the screen by clicking on the “+” and “-“ symbol. Once children understand and can name and identify shapes, you can ask them to form different objects such as cars, houses, people, or animals out from the shapes available. Drag the shapes in the white area to get started!
2. Dino Card
A dinosaur-themed maths manipulative tool! Children will have fun with maths, learning how to count from 1 to 10, counting forwards and backwards. Then, children could also learn to fill in the missing numbers between 1 to 10. Click on the dinosaur’s spikes to make the number disappear and appear. It is very crucial for children to master counting from 1 to 10 in their early years, so the Dino Card is the perfect tool to lay the foundation for counting.
3. Clock
Our daily lives revolve around the concept of time and the value of time. The clock model is suitable for preschool maths where children need to learn the concept of time, hours, minutes, and seconds. They will also learn about the structure of the clock, the long hand and the shorthand of the clock.
4. 100 Beads Abacus
100 Beads Abacus is helping children to understand the concept of counting numbers. Each bead represents 1. The ten rows containing 10 beads each enable children to count until 100. This tool also acts as a counter. In ALFA and Friends Maths and Euler Maths programmes, there are many objects used as counters such as link cubes, counters, counting sticks and animal stickers!
5. Fact Family
To master arithmetic, this tool works wonders for your children. This tool can be one of the coolest math games that help your children to solve addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division problems. Create different combinations of problems and ask the children to solve them. Let the children take their own sweet time in solving the problems because speed is not everything!
There are so many essential maths manipulative tools that can be used when teaching maths to children such as Rekenrek, Place Value House, 10s Number Bracelet and more. Learning through a hands-on approach will make the learning experience more enjoyable. The children will not even realize they are learning while doing the activities. Not only that, but these maths manipulative tools will also benefit you as parents and teachers because you don’t have to spend so much time and energy in preparing your very own maths manipulative tools.
How do I access all the digital tools, you might ask? Here’s the answer, subscribe to any of our Mathematics programmes such as Euler Maths (preschool maths subject) or ALFA and Friends Maths (after-school enrichment programme)!
As parents, by using these maths manipulative tools in our daily or weekly learning session, we could help the children to love learning maths and eliminate the stress and anxiety whenever we talk about maths with them. With these, we hope the children will see the importance of maths in our daily lives!
As teachers, no more pulling all-nighters to prepare teaching aids to simplify maths lessons to young children. With these maths manipulative tools, the teaching and learning process become more effective, easier, and smarter! Physical and online classes will be easier to conduct, and children will participate more in the learning process.
So, what are you waiting for? Ready to transform your children to become maths lovers? Try these digital maths manipulative tools now FOR FREE!
With the digital maths manipulative tools, it makes the learning possible to happen everywhere and anytime. With just a few clicks, children can exercise their maths skills.
