Numberblocks and Math Mondays: Making Math Fun for Toddlers
We Love Number Blocks!
We love Numberblocks! As a math educator, I love the BBC for creating a fun math TV show that uses good pedagogy. My 2-year-old son loves Numberblocks because he thinks the brightly imaged blocks and their songs are funny. As a parent, I love spending time with my son on an educational activity.
Numberblocks is a cleverly written show with silly songs that have math embedded in them. Numberblocks is to math what VeggieTales is for Bible stories.
Audience
Thus far we are only on Season 2, but I would say that Numberblocks are good for ages 3-6. Preschoolers would love it and some young toddlers like my own might too! Many of the episodes I’ve seen thus far align to the Common Core Kindergarten Math Standards such as adding and subtracting within 5 (K.OA.5).
How I Discovered Them
I first discovered Numberblocks at the Ohio Council for Teachers of Mathematics’ (OCTM’s) annual conference. I used manipulatives extensively in my math classroom, so I knew that linking cubes are incredibly useful for teaching a plethora of math concepts. Yet here were linking cubes with cute little faces on them. What’s not to love!
Fast-forward and now my son is two and half and very verbal. As I was wandering through the school section at Target, I ran into Hand2Mind’s 1-10 Numberblocks Activity Set. Still being a math teacher at heart, I wanted to buy them right then and there. Instead, I restrained myself as I wanted to do a little research before doing a splurge.
Learning More
We don’t watch a lot of TV in my household, so we only have Amazon Prime which does not include Numberblocks as one of their shows. I didn’t want to purchase another streaming service just for a kids’ show, so I started scouring the library and other sources trying to see if I could find some Numberblocks episodes. I finally found out that you can access them in the United States at Numberblocks | Episodes website. I watched a few episodes, and I discovered not only did they align to best pedagogical practices, but they were also very entertaining. Leave it to the BBC! Did I mention they are short? Each episode is only about 5 minutes, which is great because—
- I limit my kid’s screen time.
- His attention span at 2.5 years is pretty short; and
- The episode only addresses one small concept at a time.
So I instituted Math Mondays at our house. 😄
Buy Hand2Mind’s MathLink Cubes Numberblocks 1-10 Activity Set using on Amazon.
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Importance of Early Numeracy
In our world, numeracy (making sense of numbers) is extremely important and a predictor of academic success. “Preschool mathematics knowledge predicts achievement even into high
school (National Mathematics Advisory Panel, 2008). Early knowledge of math not only predicts
later success in math, but also predicts later reading achievement even better than early
reading skills. (G.J. Duncan, et. al, 2007).” (cited in The Progress of Education Reform Handout, October 2013). Additionally, in most schools, students get indirectly or directly tracked by their math abilities.
Yet in the race towards early literacy, earl numeracy often gets left behind. Children who are good memorizers can mask their innumeracy until they get to upper-level math classes in middle school and high school. Then suddenly to their (and their parents,) dismay, their math skills suddenly fall apart to reveal the fact that they never had true understanding to begin with. To be successful in math, students need to be able to understand numbers and manipulate them at a young age. Numberblocks is a perfect way to teach young kids early numeracy strategies such as composing and decomposing numbers. Plus, it’s cute and fun; kids love it or at least mine does! 😊
Math Mondays
My son only watches 30 minutes of TV a week when we do family movie time. (This of course excludes times when he’s sick, or we have a long road trip ahead of us.) So Math Mondays are a treat for him, and he asks for them often (even when it’s not Monday). I have to admit that sometimes I relent and we do Math Mondays on a Saturday or Sunday 😊.
To set up, I queue up my computer and gather my materials (the appropriate number blocks, the number cards, and the activity cards) and print out the worksheet that aligns to the episode. That’s right, there are educational worksheets that align to each episode. How great is that!
Because I don’t know how to get the episodes through the TV, we watch them on my laptop. (Although, my husband could probably do a screencast.) So my son sits in my lap, and we watch the 5-minute episode together. Then we do the worksheet together. If he finishes the worksheet, I usually let him pick a previous episode to rewatch; thereby reviewing earlier concepts. Then he gets to play with the blocks.
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Seasons
Season 1 & 2
Season 1 focuses on numbers 0-5 and adding and subtracting within 5. Season 2 introduces characters 6-10. My son was very excited to meet the new characters in Season 2.
Additionally, seasons 1 & 2 do a very good job of teaching Common Core’s Math Standards for Kindergarten for Operation and Algebraic Thinking (K.OA.1-5).
- K.OA.1 Represent addition and subtraction with objects, fingers, mental images, drawings, sounds (e.g., claps), acting out situations, verbal explanations, expressions, or equations.
- K.OA.2 Solve addition and subtraction word problems, and add and subtract within 10, e.g., by using objects or drawings to represent the problem.
- K.OA.3 Decompose numbers less than or equal to 10 into pairs in more than one way, e.g., by using objects or drawings, and record each decomposition by a drawing or equation (e.g., 5 = 2 + 3 and 5 = 4 + 1).
- K.OA.4 For any number from 1 to 9, find the number that makes 10 when added to the given number, e.g., by using objects or drawings, and record the answer with a drawing or equation.
- K.OA.5 Fluently add and subtract within 5.
Although, my son isn’t fluently adding yet, he is able to add within 10 and starting to learn kindergarten standards. That’s pretty good for a 2 year old! And I think that’s because using the linking cubes, the fun cartoon characters and songs, and the worksheets makes the concepts accessible for his age.
Seasons 3-5
We have not watched seasons 3-5 yet, but season 3 focuses on numbers up through 20. Season 4 uses numbers up to 50, and Season 5 goes all the way to 100.
The Parts and Pieces
I would definitely recommend starting by buying Hand2Mind’s 1-10 Numberblocks Activity Set. We will probably buy Hand2Mind’s 11-20 Numberblocks Activity Set once we get to Season 3. But the first set should last you at least two seasons. I’ll go into more detail about what’s included in the 1-10 set below.
The Blocks
The blocks are just linking cubes with faces. Each number has a unique personality. The characters can rearrange themselves which is setting the stage for conservation of number and area and laying the foundation for multiplication. My child loves the characters and will sometimes pretend that he is them. For example, one time he pretended to be one of the Terrible Twos. 😂 Octoblock is also pretty fun for preschoolers and toddlers.
Number Cards
Each number has its own number card. They are fun to look at and introduce some math concepts, but I’m not quite sure how to best use them yet.
The Activity Cards
Hand2Mind’s 1-10 Numberblocks Activity Set comes with activity cards. Each card has an activity that match some (but not all) of the episodes. You have to watch though, because the sequence of the activity cards is different than that of the episodes which can get confusing. Overall, I like the worksheets better than the activities because my little guy still doesn’t have a great attention span. But you can use either the activity cards or the worksheets or both. The benefit of the activity cards is that they rely on the manipulatives, so sometimes I combine both the activity card and the worksheet.
The Worksheets
Most of the worksheets are quick and easy and require very little hand-eye coordination. At 2, my son can draw lines to match two objects and he can circle objects. However, he can’t write numbers yet, so we just skip over those problems if we happen to run into them. There are very few worksheets in the first two seasons that require them to actually write numbers.
Here is an example of a worksheet. This is probably the most difficult one that we’ve done, but he was able to do it! He didn’t need to write anything, but he could just use his glue stick and glue the correct answer down. It was long, and he has a short attention span, so we did the left half one week and the second half the next week. Again, this is one of the hardest ones we’ve come across. Most are much simpler.
Other products
Hand2Mind has other fun Numberblocks products that align with the episodes like the Stampoline Park (Season 1, episode 11), the balance beam, and the Numberblock Express (Season 1, episode 18)!
To learn more about Hand2Mind’s other Numberblocks’s products, click the button below.
Conclusion
Not only is my son developing numeracy, but he is also developing a love of math! For me that’s a win, and it’s a fun time that we can spend together. I hope your child loves Numberblocks as much as mine does. The only problem will be what to do with him if Numberblocks teaches him all the kindergarten standards before he gets to kindergarten?
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Comment
Let me know how your much your kids like Numberblocks! Share with me your Numberblocks stories!
