When little person started working on fractions, I was wary how I was going to make fractions, decimals and percentages fun. Without this topic being fun, I knew he wouldn’t understand, and without fun it automatically becomes ‘hard.’ So it was time to invest in books and other items to make this a more enjoyable. I have written a post about ‘Fraction towers’ so today I wanted to talk a little bit about ‘usborne Fractions And Decimals activity book.’
On my search for books, I found lots of generic books, and workbooks that were definitely good, but I needed a little bit more colour. However, when I read stickers were involved, I had to buy! I wasn’t too sure how good the stickers would work, and whether little person would even enjoy the concept, but I was very pleasantly surprised!
The first section is fractions. The book begins with a great introduction, simply explaining what fractions are, and how they work. Two page spread is used for each sub topic, so the sub topic begins with an example/explanation followed by lots of fun activities. The stickers concept was a huge hit for us, for instance using the stickers to complete the correct fraction of pies or ice creams was great. In fact, I would have thoroughly enjoyed completing this book myself!!
The pages are colourful, but they’re not too much, so little person didn’t feel like I was using a ‘baby’ book.
It isn’t just activities where stickers are used to complete pictures, but the book is also full of mazes, colouring and joining correct pairs.
The second section is Decimals, and again just like the fractions section, there are lots of sticker opportunities, as well as more mazes and other ‘fun activities’ (little persons description).
The final section is percentages, and once again, the book nicely works though the main concepts, making complex ideas very simple and easy to follow.
As stated the book works though the whole range from fractions, decimals to percentages. It uses colour and fun to make each lesson fun and exciting. I was wary that the stickers at the back would give the answers away (so if little person though 1/2 and there wasn’t a 1/2 he would know it’s wrong without working it out through his own initiative), however there are plenty of ‘wrong’ stickers added so that the answers aren’t given away!
If fractions, decimals and percentages are something that has been worked through for a while then I would highly recommend this book. It really does put the fun back into learning. However, I wouldn’t recommend this as a stand alone book for teaching fractions, decimals and percentages. The book goes through all topics within this range but it only has one or two examples for each, and once we got to percentages, the book wasn’t working on its own! Little person found percentages difficult, and still does, and with lack of lots of in-depth examples the book wasn’t able to help as much as I hoped. Having said that, the book has immensely helped with each topic as a ‘breakthrough’, and with fractions and decimals it worked perfectly as a stand alone book. If I could change anything about this book, I would add more to the percentages section!
Overall, I highly recommend this book, these are the types of books that ensure children never utter the words ‘maths is hard’! The fun and games allows them to easily work through ideas, and even when they don’t quite understand, the idea of such books it to ensure the child event feels deflated!
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| An example of ‘working your way around’ maze |
We purchased our copy here, so take a look and have a read of other reviews too!
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| Lots of fun activities using stickers. |
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