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By Mom Unplugged, February 19, 2011 2:23 pm

The annual world mental arithmetic challenge is back! March 1st is World Math(s) Day.

Teachers can sign up their classes, homeschoolers and parents may register their children also. There are levels for ages 4-18 and your kids can help set a new world record of one billion correctly answered questions!

Kids have 48 hours (as long as it is March 1st somewhere in the world) to complete up to 100, 60 second math games. Students who answer the most questions correctly will be listed in the hall of fame.

Jealous of your children’s math fun? This year there is an adult category too (ages 19-119).

There is also the option to turn this into an easy fundraiser with 50% of the earnings going to your school and 50% to UNICEF. Download a fundraising pack for more information.

Register now to participate. It’s FREE!!

PS. If math isn’t your thing, how about joining World Spelling Day on March 3, 2011?

NOTE: Registration closes the day before on the 28th of February; however, registration is unneeded if already registered for Mathletics, Spellodrome, VmathLive or World Spelling Day as the registration for those will work for World Maths Day.

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By Mom Unplugged, February 26, 2008 5:58 pm

Santa gave the 4 Way Countdown Wooden Game to my 7 year-old daughter because he was hoping it might be a fun way to work on memorizing math facts.

The board consists of a simple square wooden box. Each side has ten wooden numbered bars that flip up and down. The object of the game is to be the first to flip up all your numbers. Players take turns rolling two dice. They can add, subtract, multiply, or divide the two numbers appearing on the dice in order to equal a number on one of their bars. They then flip up that bar. To make things a little more interesting, if you roll and eleven, you can of course flip up the 1 (6-5=1) or, instead, make another player flip all their bars back down. Fun, but beware: if you roll a twelve, then you must flip down all your bars!

This makes for a surprisingly entertaining game. What I like best about the game is how it can grow with your child’s abilities. Younger children can play by simply adding and subtracting. Multiplication and division can be added later as math skills progress.

I must also mention that even I like playing this one. Since many games aimed at children are deadly boring for grownups, I am always excited to find one that is at least tolerable, at best fun.

So, did Santa pick wisely? Yes! This game makes basic math facts easier to memorize and is way more fun than flash cards. Thank you Santa!

4 Way Countdown is also fairly practical as a travel game. The box is about 10.5″ x 10.5″ and 1.5″ thick, doesn’t weigh much, and the only loose pieces are the two dice. Dice are rolled inside the box, so are unlikely to escape during play.

Great math practice for 2 to 4 players (or you could even play alone). It would also be a great addition to a homeschool classroom.

PS. My daughter just saw me writing this post and wants to play 4 Way Countdown now. I’ve got to go so we can get in a quick game before dinner!