For grown-ups
The StarSlate blog
Notes for parents, carers and teachers: how young children learn to count and read, how to help at home, and how HTML5 games like ours fit in.
- Early mathsWhat Counting Really Is: Five Things a Small Child Has to LearnA child who can say "one, two, three" cannot necessarily count. Five separate ideas sit behind the skill, and each has its own tell-tale mistake.
- Early mathsSeeing "Three" Without Counting: Why Dot Patterns MatterYou know a dice shows five without counting the dots. That quick recognition has a name, it can be taught, and it makes first sums far easier.
- Early mathsNumber Bonds to Ten: The Nine Facts Worth Knowing by HeartSix and four. Seven and three. A handful of number pairs do a surprising amount of work in later arithmetic. Why they matter and how to practise.
- Early readingFirst Sounds: The Listening Skill That Comes Before ReadingBefore a child can read "cat", they need to hear that it starts with "c". That listening skill can be practised anywhere, with no books at all.
- Early mathsTeaching the Clock: Why It Is Hard, and an Order That WorksA clock face breaks most of the rules a child has just learned about numbers. Taking it in small steps, in the right order, saves a lot of tears.
- For parentsScreen Time for Young Children: A Sensible MiddleWe run a site of games for small children, so we owe parents a straight answer about screens. What the guidance says, and what we would do.
- Early mathsPatterns Are Maths: Why "What Comes Next?" Is a Serious QuestionRed, blue, red, blue. It looks like a game with beads, and it is the start of algebra. How pattern play grows, and ways to do it at home.
- How it worksNo Timer, No Buzzer: Why Our Games Are So QuietThere is no countdown, no losing and no sound on this site. Those were choices. Here is the thinking, and exactly how the stars are worked out.
- For parentsSorting Socks: Twelve Thinking Games With No Screen at AllSorting, matching and spotting the odd one out are the roots of clear thinking, and your kitchen is full of the equipment. A dozen ideas.
- How it worksUsing Our HTML5 Games on a Big Screen: Laptops, Classrooms and WhiteboardsThe games were made for small fingers on a tablet. They also work well on a laptop, a TV or a classroom whiteboard. Practical notes for each.