Mathsmaster 3+

Rating:
Summary: Making math too fun to resist
Review: This is an incredible book- really more of an activity center. My three year old absolutely loves it and the paper engineering is gorgeous. The book consists of many pages of pop-up illustrations and countless cards to explore different facets of numbers, shapes and introductory time skills. Text for adults gives suggestions on how to use the materials. My son adores the number stencils and especially the "pop-up die"- it pops into a 3" cube. It goes along with the simplest board game ever invented. You roll the die, and move your animal game-piece that number of spaces. Then the animals can come in "first", "second", or "third". There are countless cards: colored shapes to arrange into designs, and 2-D vs 3-D shapes too. Some cards have numbers 1-10, or domino dots to count. You can sort them into order, or use them for elementary equation excercises too. There are rudimentary counting games. For example, the two lilly pads. There are three frogs on one pad, move one to the other pad and two remain. For more advancved children there are sets of basic equations presented as a sort of pop-up book slide rule. There is also a cool teaching clock- as you rotate the hour hand, each number turns from white to red, the digital clock read-out shows below too. There are cards with the days of the week, and with pictured activities that occur at different times of the day. There is even a section with number rhymes to learn. This book is exciting and fun for my three year old and will continue to provide him with challanges as he grows and learns. I can't believe it...what a deal.