Parents and teachers,
Thank you for your interest in our games!
First, note that Addition Blocks and Multiplication Blocks are not designed to teach addition or multiplication, but designed to increase fluency, that is, speed and accuracy. Because of the time element, the game will be frustrating and will not be fun for your child.
However, once a student has learned basic facts, then Addition Blocks and Multiplication should be played two to four times per week for 5-10 minutes each. Because of the time element, repetition, immediate feedback, and rewards, students will begin to compute faster and more accurately. The brain will actually build new or strengthen ‘connections’ to store in long-term memory.
Fluency is important to a student’s math development since fast and accurate addition lead to a child’s growth to subtraction and multiplication; subtraction and multiplication lead to and understanding and ability for long division. All of these basic operations lead a child to be able to do higher-order and longer processes involved in math: Multi-step problem solving, critical thinking, processing word problems as well as individual math topics such as algebra, geoemetry, statistics, and higher math topics.
A couple of indicators from your child: If you see them using their fingers or addition by counting (5 plus 3 is 5-6-7-8) then Addition Blocks is right for them!
