Anno's Math Games

My daughter loves workbooks. She'll be 4 this week, and we stumbled upon this book in our favorite bookstore about a month ago. Although we don't let her write in it (saving it for our younger son to use, too), she is in love with it. It is challenging. I find she can do about three pages with me, thinking very hard about all the concepts presented, before she gets tired. This is great, because normally she sits down and plows through a book cover to cover. I was afraid the concepts would be too difficult for her, and to be honest, they would probably be better for an older child, but she is able to understand and get a lot out of it. It teaches concepts like same and different (pick the picture that's different), putting together and taking apart (pictures of inventions and the two separate tools they combine, chart reading activity where you figure out where the kids' colorful clothing goes on a chart that separates color from clothing item), etc. All of this is done with fun little elfish characters. Got to say, I love this book!

Anno's Math Games is a fantastic book that teaches math concepts to children (and the adults reading to them). In a gifted combination of very clear text and entertaining illustrations, this book teaches some of the major math concepts in an easy to understand and entertaining way. I read this one as well as Anno's other books to my children when they were little and it was a favorite of theirs. I strongly recommend it.

This book is amazing for children. I actually grew up reading this book, and I am now majoring in math. Anno's books teach kids the concepts of math, without confusing them with all the math words. This is perfect for small children, because they can easily understand the concepts in this book - like "Which of these things is not like the other", pairing coats and pockets to make a coat with pockets, different colored hats, etc. Don't be put out if your small child can't do arithmetic right after reading this book - it is not intended to teach arithmetic, but instead to teach the cognitive skills necessary to master arthimetic LATER. I say read it to your toddler, your elementary school children, your high schooler, anyone can benefit from this book.