Primary Teaching Resources

Primary teaching resources for Maths are able to bring to life what could well be a dry subject. A solid handling of maths is a crucial tool for kids to learn, and the faster they obtain a good understanding of it the better. Time was teachers would spend countless hours devising and making tools with which to make maths an exciting visual experience. These days, however, there are a selection of primary teaching resources for sale which engage with kids on a strong visual level.

Children engage with pictures much more readily than they do with words and numbers; after all, their brains have been processing images as long as they have been able to see, while words and numbers are relatively new concepts. That’s why the best primary teaching resources need to offer children a visual key for solving number problems. Familiar pictures pupils can relate to are used to teach numeracy in a fun manner.

Money is taught by means of cards depicting mathematical sweets; each sweet is a single unit, boxes of sweets stand for tens and jars of sweets symbolise hundreds. It’s a great deal less dry than dealing with pence pounds. Most young children of primary school age will never have dealt with a lot of cash, but they are going to be only too familiar with counting out and eying up sweets. These sweet cards were the very first, but currently there are a number of Place Value card sets, using different fun metaphors to teach practical mathematical skills.

Fractions are described through commonly divisible items including pizzas, pies, puddings and tarts. Many other sets enable the same topics to be taught but with slightly different focus, in order that children can separate and identify the discrete tasks involved in more complicated sums (e.g. facts to 10 can be taught in several ways with Digit Pop Ups, Busy Boats, Zillions, Wish Fish and Lady Bugs). The Monster Number Line goes further, teaching numbers as high as 30, 50 or even 100 depending on the capabilities and understanding of the children.

Many teachers find it particularly difficult to get boys to engage in the classroom. Number lines and missing numbers are taught with X-Planes, while Footie Facts ensure the attention of so many young boys.

One particularly popular primary teaching resource is the Multiplication Rainbow. The Multiplication Rainbow was designed to offer a visual aid to chidlren learning their times tables. Numbers are arranged along arcs of the rainbow, rather than in rows and columns. The reverse is left blank so the children can fill it in themselves.

Playground Pictures extend the learning experience into the playground or garden. PVC wall pictures put across important literacy or numeracy information in a bold and colourful manner. Available pictures include bees, stars and flowers. They sit well in gardens and playgrounds, and are easily fixed to walls or fences.

Most of all, these products are designed to make learning fun. Ideas which may seem simple to adults require a good deal of memorisation by children. Using fun, relatable concepts makes that job far less difficult for them.