I seriously :heart: dimensional analysis. Most kids don't see the point in it when it is first introduced... because by that time, they already (mostly) have some facility in dealing with "word" (applied) problems successfully, and secondly because the problems quite simply aren't sufficiently complex as to
require that particular tool.
On the other hand, I'm a big believer in training them early. Which is where Henrietta the Dinner-Party Diva (a sort of Avian Martha Stewart, if you will) and her cockroach appetizers came into things for my (then)8yo DD.
We also worked problems on the basis of determining the "proper" number of Sousaphones in a a band that intended a faithful rendition of "76 Trombones," assuming that there is such a thing.
Silly helps a lot when it comes to initially working "word" problems. They don't
have to be boring. Or simple.
