Your Mama Likes Zillio Math Games

My 9 year-old and 5 year-old have already started back at school and my 11 year-old starts next week.  As moms of school aged kids know, summer tends to be a forgetful time of year for kids and doesn’t normally include  math. With the summer winding down, now is the time to start thinking about a refresher course.  That is why this review is working to my advantage of wanting to get my kids math facts fresh in their minds so they can impress the teachers at their new school.

I was very excited to use the Zillio Games in an effort to make math fun – an idea that’s laughable to them.

There was no assembly – so score 1 for parents! The 3D Mini Mountain is a little heavy and cumbersome, but sturdy enough for small heavy hands.  If storing is an issue, the 2D Playground might be a better choice and offers the same idea.

I was surprised at how eager they were to play with it, competitively rambling off multiplication, addition, and subtraction facts, inadvertently remembering what they’d been taught.

The concept of visualizing math skills with the brightly colored “mountain” is a good one.  They wanted to touch it and play with it.  However, the directions for the games were quite confusing.   We attempted the Land Grab Number Sequences game first (recommended for ages 7-9).

We quickly realized that we’d be better off starting at the youngest game, Mother May I (recommended for ages 4-5).  All three of the kids were able to catch on to this game, but there is a point where the addition and subtraction may fall into negatives, which I think is far beyond the suggested 4-5 year range, but a good challenge and practice for the others.

Aside from the many suggested games in the manual, we were also able to create some of our own activities, in an attempt to keep all age ranges engaged simultaneously.  The possibilities of ways to use the Zillio 3D Mini Mountain are truly endless.

This would also be an ideal item for Homeschooling families.

The 3D Mini Mountain is now $69.95 and the 2D Playground is $24.95.

About the author:  Tena covers a wide spectrum of parenting with an angsty teenage boy, an 11-year-old diva, a 9-year-old artist, and a 5-year-old princess. Her days are spent chauffeuring kids to way too many activities and wondering how they got so spoiled when she didn't give them crap! Read more from this author.