Guest Post By: Catie Keeler

The internet makes it simple to find resources that reinforce the math skills your kindergartener is learning in the classroom. Printable worksheets, interactive assessments and games are everywhere. Of course, games are the most fun, so in the spirit of both fun and learning, here are five free online games that can help your child practice counting, addition, subtraction, even basic geometry.

Animal Lost and Found – This game, brought to you by PBS, uses counting skills to help pet-owners find their lost friends. Match the number of eyes, ears and mouths on each animal to identify pets.  There are two levels and five pets to identify in each level. The player is given an actual pet on the left and the number of characteristics on the right.  Then, compare the number of features listed to the animal sees on the right to determine whether or not this is the pet you seek.

http://www.pbs.org/parents/earlymath/prek_games_animal.html

Bloons Pop 3 – This one helps with counting, color and critical thinking skills and resembles the more adult game, Bejeweled, but uses kid-friendly balloons, called “bloons” instead.  Swap these bloons with each other to create a row of three or more. The more bloons in a row, the more points you score.  Pictures inside the balloons like popcorn, thumb tacks and bombs create situations that also give you a bonus.

http://coolmath-games.com/0-bloons-pop-3/index.html

Marble Math Addition – Help the marble pirate collect all of his marbles by solving addition problems.  There are five levels with a bonus activity at the end of each level. A player must get at least seventy percent of the questions correct in one level to move on onto the next, and the bonus activities are optional.  In each level, there is a math problem with three answer choices. A blank box and different colored marbles offer help solving.  A tip for better visualizing the numbers is to use one color of marbles for the first number and a different color for the second number.  The pirate offers words of encouragement when you answer the problem correctly.

http://abcya.com/addition.htm

Color Subtraction – In this bright game, subtract the given numbers and select the correct answer to color this picture.  First, choose one of four pictures to color.  Click the correct answer on the color palette to the right and use the paint brush to color in the blinking area of the picture. After you finish one picture, keep working on subtraction skills by choosing another picture.

http://www.cookie.com/kids/games/color-subtraction.html

Purpy’s Shapes – Get a solid introduction to geometry in this simple game, where you help Purpy (a funny, purple blob with two hairs and black shoes) find his favorite shapes.  The game begins by showing you a circle, a square and a triangle with pictures of objects in each shape.  The following page gives you the name of the shape and tells you to identify which objects are which shapes.  Once you’ve correctly identified the objects, you’ll move to the next screen where you’ll find picture with hidden shapes. When you’ve mastered the three basics, play another level to learn and identify more shapes.

http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/preschool/ngames/shapes.htm

Catie Keeler is the primary researcher and writer for mortgagerates.info. Her most recent accomplishments include graduating from the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill with a degree in business and communications. Her current focus for the site involves mortgage rate calculators and 30 year mortgage rates.