Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Learning Environments Math competitions for elementary school kid

Hi All,
DS is heavily into math and understandably not challenged in school. His principal and teacher recognize that and have agreed to grade skip in math for next year (He will be in 2nd grade math instead of 1st). He says things are way too easy in school but seems to be happy otherwise so I do not want to rock the boat too much. Is there an individual math competition that he can train for? I 'am looking for something that is challenging and creative and not something like KUMON. Even if he does not end up participating in the competition, I think the training process might trigger questions / interest we can pursue. I 'am going this path because I don't think stuff like CTY is going to keep him engaged. We do not have math circles in our area and I unfortunately don't have the time to start one Thanks in advance for your time

Argubably the most important compeition is MOEMS. See http://www.artofproblemsolving.com/...ementary_school_mathematics_competitions for a list of other compeitions.

The Davidson Database also has a list of Math competitions.

While not competitions, several resources mentioned on a recent thread about where to get cheap math books may be of interest for enrichment. Also the Life of Fred books mentioned in several threads.

We have done the Math Kangaroo tests. The lowest level they offer is for first grade and my DD's have enjoyed the tests and thought some of the questions while challenging were still fun.

In Canada, at least, you can sign up for the Math Kangaroo as an individual; you don't have to go through a school. Not as high-end as MOEMS et al, but the previous years' test questions are available, and they are nice, make-you-think puzzly kinds of questions that go all the way down to grade 1.

There are several Math Circle books available on Amazon. Those are an excellent resource for him to work on math, critical thinking, logic and reasoning (if you cannot find them, let me know and I will add the link to the books).
Also, there are books for Math Kangaroo preparation by Borac (again amazon).
If you go to the math kangaroo US website, they sell all the old MK question papers for reasonable prices. I bought the whole lot for my DS to work on for fun (the answer keys are in their website and you don't have to buy them).
MK Canada has all the old question papers for free here:
https://kangaroo.math.ca/index.php?kn_mod=samples

I would also recommend MEP math. it is free and you can print out the pages that you think might interest your DS. They have a lot of "puzzle" type math problems.
http://www.cimt.plymouth.ac.uk/projects/mepres/primary/
Good luck.

I also highly recommend Math Kangaroo!

Thank you so much ! From what I looked , you need to be enrolled through the school for both MOEMS and Math Kangaroo . However, I definitely like the idea of being able to look at old question papers to pick stuff for him to work on. MEP math is quite exhaustive and I love the fact it is free

Ashley- I will message if I cannot find the Math circle books in Amazon


Thanks you all so much!

The "school" through which our children took MOEMS and Math Kangaroo was not their regular school but the Russian School of Math, an afterschool. Especially for Math Kangaroo, which is a one-day contest, it may be possible for your child to participate even if his school does not sponsor it.

MOEMS encourages institute teams, which are made up of kids from different schools. If you have a math club or a tutor or unrelated adult who is willing to organize/register a team, your DS can participate even if he is the only one. It is free as far as the MOEMS organization but the organizer/administrator will likely charge a fee.

As for Math Kangaroo, we have chosen not to participate. It is a much more accessible test (plenty of easy questions), so relatively easier to get interested students of all math abilities. One of the private local math programs in our region sponsored it so it was offered at a local university at the cost charged by Math Kangaroo. To compensate for the lower level of difficulty, some students simply test up.

There is also Math League, which is also by grade.