Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion Anyone know a good early math website?

I'm looking for a fun math website with games/activities for my 3-year-old who is really (really, really, really) into numbers and basic math. He's good with the computer and can use it independently - but a simple interface would probably be better than one that is clutter or complicated. He knows numbers into the 1000s, and can do basic addition and subtraction.

I know there has got a be a website out there that he would just love. Or software would work too (but it's gotta be mac compatible) Any ideas?

It's been a long time since I've looked at it, so I don't remember how early the "early" is on it, but my dds both loved Dreambox (www.dreambox.com). It's online, and we had no problems running it on a Mac using Safari. The downside is it's a subscription service, but I think it wasn't terribly expensive.

My 4th grade dd's class is also using math-whiz (you can google math-whiz to get the website) - it's got some fun/games built into it too, and I think the website says it starts at Kindergarten level, so it might be another one to look at if you think your ds is ready for K-level math

polarbear

I'm not sure if this link will work, but the school librarian at my kids school has a website with lots of educational links - http://www.livebinders.com/play/play_or_edit?id=13300

This one - http://www.smartygames.com/math.php is the least seizure-inducing one, IMO.

http://guest.portaportal.com/mrost

You might find something he likes at this link (from my son's school web site)

We have had good experience with Dreambox. They cover the more arithmetic parts of the K-4 curriculum (this week they finally introduced 4th grade core stuff, plus fractions and time in the lower grades).

The interface is audio (if reading is a potential issue), it is adaptive (do not provide direct help!) and the graphics/animations are appropriate for the lower ages (much more polished and cuter than MathWizz). Since it is a paying service they don't have ads. It works well on Safari and Firefox on Mac. Since it is Flash-based it won't work on iThings (but the parent dashboard will).

My kids like it. The transition to the much drier interface of Aleks was tough for my oldest

Biggest issues are that it doesn't cover the full state curriculum but that would not be an issue for a 2yo, and there is little inside the program to do speed drills on tables (my son was getting frustrated when the program started to assume, after teaching the concepts, that he had also aquired the automatic fast replies). We used xtramath.org (free, no ads) for drilling.

http://dreambox.com

If you google math online, there will be many resources. My vote is for beestar. DD has been using it. The program is full of all real life world problems, challenging stuff to help kids thinking. DD loves and supports it. She rather do 9 hours of beestar than watch 1 minute of t.v. I think it is nice and easy to use.
Lisa

My eg/pg son uses Dreambox at school, but my beef with it is that it costs money and it's a propriety-system. It's also largely repetition and drill based. Ditto for https://www.xtramath.org/ (which at least is free!).

Today, there's so many open source materials which are freely available and accessible online that I don't think you need to spend money today if you don't have it or want to.

Here's a more comprehensive guide to free math stuff online:
http://www.goodsitesforkids.org/MathandTellingTime.htm
http://www.goodsitesforkids.org/Misc.htm

We've used http://www.e-learningforkids.org/ and http://www.abcya.com/ as well. I like Marble math from abcya.com because it's more manipulative and not just rote. The National Library of Virtual Manipulatives (http://nlvm.usu.edu/en/nav/grade_g_1.html) has more challenging material too.

livebinders.com is awesome for education (math included).

Some cool stuffs when googling "bbc math games"

We believe Beestar is a good one. For its math questions are full of fun. It has free math exercise. Once your child feel those free questions are too easy, you can let him try the GT math exercise, which is not expensive, about $20 per semester. We love to use it. My kid has built confidence on math.