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Math Blaster: A Review & A Giveaway!


Updated 12/17/2011: The giveaway is now closed.  
Congrats to the winner, Sara at Embracing Destiny!

{Make sure you read all the way through to check out the giveaway!!}

Lately my kiddos have had the chance to enjoy honing their math skills on Math Blaster, a site for kids ages 6-12 created by Knowledge Adventure. Math Blaster is a futuristic-themed online adventure where they create their own space-age avatar, meet aliens, raise their very own alien pet mutt and play all sorts of arcade-style math games.

Mr. B and The Princess are both really enjoying Math Blaster! They love playing the games, checking on their pet mutts and exploring the site in general. I really like how the games help them learn strategy, which is an important life skill. I like games that help my kids to develop critical thinking and these are great for that.

They both wanted me to tell you, my readers, that they "really like Math Blaster a lot, especially their pet mutts and the games".

At first I was a little worried that this site was all fun and no education, although this didn't seem to worry my kiddos--ha! However, Math Blaster is fun AND educational! It has math games for Preschool through 6th grade and also topic-based games for addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. There is also *cool math*, which includes math puzzles and jigsaw puzzles. There are also math worksheets for all of the above mentioned grade levels and topics.



Math Blaster is continually improving and updating their site. You can read all about the newest additions on their blog.

They also have apps available for purchase and console games for your Nintendo DS. Or you can simply play online like we do. It's great fun either way!

You can play lots on Math Blaster for free--and I encourage you to go and check them out--however, you can also purchase a membership upgrade for a monthly charge of 7.99. They also have annual plans or even a lifetime plan. Membership includes not just online exploring and playing with friends, but also access to members-only lessons and games, advanced math concepts practice, 4 JumpStart PC game downloads and the ability to unlock members-only features and avatar pieces! Membership on Math Blaster also includes full access to their sister site, Jump Start, completely free of charge.

I know that as a homeschooling parent I am constantly looking for ways to make math *fun* for my kiddos. Math was one of my least favorite subjects in school and I certainly don't want to portray a bad attitude toward it now that I am teaching my children. So I really enjoy sites such as this which will create a positive and fun attitude toward math for them. And it means a lot to me as a parent to know that my children are on a site that is safe and secure.

Now...

for that giveaway I mentioned (I'm SO excited to share this):

Math Blaster has offered to giveaway a 3-month membership to one of my readers!

Here's how to enter:

1. Leave a comment sharing how you *make math fun* for your kiddos.

2. Follow my blog--and tell me in a separate comment--for an extra entry.

**Even if you don't blog, you're welcome to enter; however, please make sure you leave an email address through which you may be contacted. Thank you!

I'll be taking entries/comments until 11:59 pm December 16th and I'll announce the winner on December 17th.


So hop over to Math Blaster and see what fun your kiddos can have learning on this site!

Disclaimer: I was given two memberships for my children to Math Blaster in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion.

Comments

I follow your blog!:) Lori
I try to make Math fun by playing games. This would be perfect for us! Thanks for the giveaway! I have a great one on my blog, too, so stop by and check it out... Lori
Kei said…
One way I have made math fun is a basketball quiz. I ask each boy a math question out of their book, and if they get it right, they get to shoot a ball in a basket. My kids are still small so we use a small soft ball in a laundry basket. It also helps build that coordination. You can offer prizes for baskets made, also.
Kei said…
I also follow your blog. :)
Kathy said…
hmmm, I don't think I'm doing a very good job of making math fun! BUT, the math program we have called Teaching Textbooks seems to make it fun with silly characters and noises! whew!
Kathy said…
I am a follower! =)
MrsKara said…
I didn't know Math blaster was now onine! We used the CD-ROM versions for years, until they were'nt compatible with whichever version of Windows we had.
To make math fun with the Littles, we have always used lots of movement. Flashcard baseball running the living room bases was uber-popular. Bitty would do addition facts until she got three'strickes', then Hoss did division facts while he was at bat.

Bigs need another kind of motivation altogether. Since all my bigs are boys so far, it's easy - FOOD. I put a plate of finger foods in front of them and they don't complain nearly as much! M liked smoothies and peanut butter sandwhiches cut up for easy eating. D wants fruit, cheese cubes, wraps. And let face it, even polar coordinates are better with hot cocoa and marshmallow fluff!
Lisa Boyle said…
I try to make math fun by doing a lot of hands-on activities. I think the less "workbooky" type of work we do, the more they learn! :-)
Lisa Boyle said…
I now follow your blog! :-)
Mary said…
I try to make math fun with board games.
G said…
We try to make math fun in a number of ways - board games, homemade games, cooking, math stories, grocery store math, and more! I'm heading off to check out Math Blasters now.
G said…
And now I follow your blog as well!
Unknown said…
I'm most definitely a follower! LOL
Unknown said…
Making math fun? Well, with manipulative and real life learning! Right now the kids are planning their gardens...graphing their plans, figuring out how many plants can go in that space, how many seeds to buy, how much money!
MrsKara said…
Oh, almost forgot to say I'm a follower. *grin*
We make math fun by playing games, using real math like measuring for cooking/baking, manipulatives, and reading math books by Greg Tang.
We make math fun at our house by doing as many hands-on activities and real-life Math as we can! :)
Debbie said…
We like to play math games.
Jenny said…
We've been so busy getting our homeschool co-op mandatory math done, I feel like I HAVEN'T made math fun this year. They do, however, like doing math on time4learning.
Jenny said…
I'm now following your blog.
Unknown said…
I'm following your blog.
Unknown said…
The kids enjoy speed drills and playing math games. They love to beat the clock!

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