Well, it’s been over a month since the last newsletter from Dr Mike’s Math Games for Kids. Hopefully you haven’t forgotten that you subscribed!
This issue talks about a new Puzzles “Gadget”, and reviews of two games.
If you have a Personalized Start Page from Google, you already know what a Google Gadget is – it’s those things you can add to iGoogle, showing you the weather, your email, crosswords, your favorite links, or whatever else you like. Now, Dr Mike’s Math Games for Kids has a Google Gadget – Dr Mike’s Weekly Math Puzzle.
The Weekly Math Puzzle Gadget shows a different math puzzle each week (surprise, surprise… :-). Some are easy to solve, others are quite tough. Right now, the gadget has 10 puzzles in it, so can provide you (or your kids, or your class) with 10 weeks of mathematical brain-teasers. I’ll be adding more as time goes by, of course.
If you’ve never used a Personalized Start Page from Google, but you’d like to, why not try now? Go to the gadget’s web page and follow the link to ‘Add’ the gadget. This will lead you to Google’s site, where they’ll give instructions leading you the rest of the way.
If you don’t have iGoogle, and don’t want it, the gadget also runs on its own page – you can visit it there each week to get the puzzles.
In the meantime, I’ve also written reviews of a couple of games.
My son received a Junior Monopoly set for Christmas. Junior Monopoly is a simplified version of “real” Monopoly, designed so that kids aged 5-8 can both understand the rules, and relate to the “story”. Somehow, I couldn’t help wondering whether it was also a good mathematical educational game. Perhaps this is what happens when you run a math games website! You can read my review here.
While I was thinking about Junior Monopoly, one reader of this list recommended another game to me – Timez Attack.
Timez Attack is a “real” computer game, with a free version and a paid version that’s more fun. I got my kid playing the free version for a while, then forked out the cash for the paid version. I wanted to see for myself what it was, so I could write up a proper review. Well, that’s now done, and you can read it here. If you try (or have already tried) Timez Attack, please do tell me your experience, so I can add it to the review as well.
Yours, Mike H…