Review & Giveaway: Carlito C. Caterpillar MathHouse Game Card Set

I’m always looking for fun ways to teach subjects my kids consider boring. Math is one of those subjects. When my older two children were smaller, I wish I would have introduced math skills in a fun way. Instead, I left it to the public school system.

I’m going to do things differently with my youngest. Though she’s still young, I’m looking for ways to make math fun. This week I reviewed Carlito C. Caterpillar’s 20 Steps to Learning Math. As part of the MathHouse Games series, 20 Steps to Learning math is based on Domenico Marcario’s Sensory Math Teaching System.

Carlito C. Caterpillar’s Math Game Card Set includes 20 cards, which tell you how to play games to teach children math skills. Each card or “step’ includes two games to reinforce the math step. Games are divided into 3 stages, as follows:

• Stage 1: Quantity: Learning to imagine, see, and feel numbers
• Stage 2: Numeration: Learning place value and skip counting
• Stage 3: Operations: Learning addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division

My older children are both beyond the math concepts taught with the Math Game Card Set, but I love the game ideas for younger children! The games are especially good for kinesthetic learners, who really need to touch and feel to learn.

For some of the games, you will need to download special tools from the Carlito C. Caterpillar website. The tools are free. The cards say you can find the tools at www.c3pla.com/tools, but that is a dead link. I found the tools at www.c3pla.com/downloads.

This is not a stand alone math program, but the games are great for introducing new math concepts and reinforcing what your primary math program is teaching.

In addition to the math games, the Math Card Game Set includes a section on Myths and Realities of Early Mathematical Learning, which was very informative.

At $23.95 I think the cards are a little spendy, but the price does include free shipping. If you’re looking for a math supplement to help kinesthetic learners in the preschool through early elementary age range, these cards might benefit you.

The Giveaway

I am giving away one Carlito C. Caterpillar Math Game Card Set. To enter the giveaway, please leave a comment on this post. For an extra entry, like Carlito C. Caterpillar’s MathHouse Games on Facebook.

Giveaway is open to residents of the United States only. I will close comments and draw a winner on Friday, October 6, 2011 at 12 noon PST. Winner will have 3 days to email me with a mailing address, or I will draw another winner.

*Disclosure of Material Connection: I received one or more of the products or services mentioned above for free in the hope that I would mention it on my blog. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”