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Jack loves learning. He’s doing so incredibly well with his reading and writing and apparently he is quite advanced in his Maths skills too. Maths is something both Steve and I were fairly good at when we were younger so we are keen to build on his skills and take advantage of his aptitude and want for learning whilst we can.
We were recently asked if we would like to review PLYT, a competitive Maths board game for all ages and abilities. We love a good board game in our family so we’ve had some fun playing it as a family and Jack has also invited some friends round to give it a go – some his age, some a little older.
Plyt say:
By playing our games regularly not only will you have some competitive fun but you will improve your numeracy skills – skills which are KEY for life.
Retailing at £24.67 here (and also available on Amazon), PLYT is endorsed by leading maths consultants and National Numeracy as one of the most effective games available. Super stuff, right? With Jack being so keen on Maths, we were excited to give this a try.
The board game itself comes with some rules – but you don’t have to follow them if you don’t want to, the beauty of Plyt is that there is no wrong way to play and they even share some handy top tips for those who are new to numbers – counting beyond 12, number bonding and addition. The box comes with the board, 5 12 sided plain dice, 1 12 sided coloured dice (the Master dice), a dice tray (which we didn’t actually use), a 30 second timer, 6 game pieces and 32 chance cards.
The rules are pretty simple – pick as many of the plain dice as you like plus the Master dice, roll and then the player has to correctly multiply the two numbers together before the timer runs out. If they answer correctly, they can move the amount of spaces shown on the Master dice. Should they land on a Plyt square they have to take a chance card.
We recently gave this a go and were intrigued to see how we fared…
Obviously Jack has only just turned five so his multiplication skills right now do leave a lot to be desired if he rolls the higher numbers but I was happy to help him out – after all, my brain could totally do with the workout too! When it came to the lower multiplication sums, I let him take the lead and tell me what he thought the answer was but with the higher ones, I guided him a little. For older children though, this is fantastic for getting them to practice their multiplication – I remember doing multiplication squares in Year 5 and they were so helpful in remembering the multiplications off the top of my head at a quick speed. Practice makes perfect, after all!
We did find ourselves landing on Plyt squares quite often which led to us doing a merry dance backwards and forwards on the board but we finally made it to the end – and Jack won 3 to my 2! We’ve played a few times since with other family members and we’re looking forward to getting some older children (family or friends) to come round soon and give this a try too.
Would I recommend? Certainly. If you are looking to help your child improve on their numeracy, this really does wonders. Even from a few games in, Jack has remembered certain multiplications that he didn’t know before and he’s keen to get the game out every day when he gets home from school – he has such a thirst for learning right now and I believe that is something you should cultivate and grow upon – so if an educational game like this comes along, I’m all for it.
Have you ever heard of Plyt? Do you buy educational games? Did you know they also sell a multilingual version of the game?
I wish this was around when I was little – I have dyscalculia and maths has always been really difficult for me.
This looks great, I loved the 24 game when I was in school. It’s a real fun card game and improved my mental maths skills and helped a lot. There are for numbers on the card and you have to get them to add up to 24.
Educational games are so good as it’s always good to stimulate kids brains as they have fun x
This looks fab. I am rubbish at maths so would prob come in handy for me too!!
For an educational game this sounds like quite a lot of fun and something that you need to actually think about too!
Educational games are great; kids can improve their skills without knowing that they are learning during play time
This looks like a great little maths game. I think it will be a little too advanced for Oscar at the mo but he’s maths crazy so definitely one to look at when he’s older 🙂