Today in school there are lots of MATHS AIDS to help our children understand the basics building blocks of number, place value and simple addition and subtraction.

Although each classroom is equipped with all of these in abundance, the typical household isn’t!  And, through my own experience as The Maths Mum®, most adults that have attended my courses have never heard or seen of them before.

Children in Early Years Foundation Stage / Reception Year and in Key Stage 1 (Years 1 and 2) will know all about Dienes (blocks, sticks & dots), Cuisenaire Rods (coloured blocks), Numicon (the thingies with holes in them), Number Lines (self explanatory!) and Place Value Mats (the ones with the ones, tens and hundreds on them).  Children use all of these aids daily when tackling maths.  

So, if you are going to home school will you need these at home?  In an ideal world that would be brilliant but, before you bulk buy from Amazon, The Maths Mum® has created this handy “Make your own maths aids” Booklet.  It is 18 pages of templates to make your own maths aids at home!

All you need is a colour printer and scissors.  Or laminate for longevity .   Get your child to explain to you how they use them!