Maths as a game

A game is fun. It ceases to be fun when it is taken too seriously. One problem with maths education is that it is taken too seriously. Certainly it is a serious subject. Certainly, it is important that children learn to do it right. But if we are to encourage children to like the subject, and therefore practice it and become good at it, then we should make it fun. If we are to make it fun, then we should not be serious about it. There is obviously a delicate balance to be struck here. My second daughter had difficulty learning to read. Her mother used to lose patience with her, and snap at her when she had difficulty in reading words in her reading homework. This put her off reading completely. For her, reading was simply an activity that led to unpleasantness and upset. I remain indebted to J K Rowling, without whose books she might never have started to read, even so, today as an adult, she still reads slowly. At Puppet Maths we want to make maths fun. We aim to make math a game that children will enjoy, and so practice both at school and at home, and consequently become good at it. Children enjoy doing the things that they are good at, that they can show off doing. Unfortunately most often maths is not the activity they choose for this. Our dream is to change this, so that children choose maths as the vehicle for showing off how good they are.