Living Maths Resources for Fun Homeschool Maths: Maths Quest – The Museum of Mysteries

You all know how much I now enjoy teaching maths, especially since the addition of Life of Fred and the subtraction of traditional curriculum.  One of my favourite things to do is shop Amazon for fun living maths resources with which to fill our day.  Once a month or so, I am going to share one especially relevant living maths resource which has worked particularly well for my girls.  I will do a quick review, and will share exactly how I use the resource.

Living Maths Resources: The Museum of Mysteries

Burglars are trying to steal the Golden Hoard at the Museum of Mysteries.  Come quickly – there isn’t much time……

There starts the journey of incredibly fun maths all built into a story.  And a quest to save the Golden Hoard.  The premise is a good one: the story begins and you are sent here, there and everywhere throughout the book as you answer maths riddles to progress.  Based in a museum there is obviously an historical element to the story.  This I think adds to its appeal.

The clues are short and are usually accompanied by a colourful and inviting picture.  There is a choice of two answers.  You choose either the correct one or the incorrect one.  If you choose the correct one, you progress through the adventure.  As you go along you collect the items you need to rescue the Golden Hoard.  If you choose the wrong one, the riddle is explained so the student can learn where they went wrong and self-correct.  Consequently, this encourages the child to dig a bit deeper than simple maths skills.

Living Maths Resources: Topics Covered in The Museum of Mysteries

The Museum of Mysteries cover the following topics:

• Even numbers, odd numbers and rules about doubling them
• Multiples and factors
• Place values
• Magic squares
• Roman numerals
• Polygons
• Prime Numbers
• Addition
• Dates
• Squared Numbers
• Multiplication
• Decimals and Fractions
• Rounding up and down
• Mirror images
• Patterns
• Number Puzzles
• Number lines
• Ordering numbers and finding patterns
• Percentages
• Weights

Furthermore, at the back of the book there is a list of number words to learn, as well as a hints page for parents.  All in all this is a great little book for trying out maths concepts in a very safe and pressure free environment.  Both my girls beg to do it every day, and thoroughly enjoy it when we do.

I tend to do it for about ten minutes each day, at the end of their Life of Fred lesson.  It is easy for me to grab and go because it requires no preparation at all, and most importantly covers fascinating maths in an interesting way.

This has been a great fun living maths resource and I therefore highly recommend it.

There are lots more living maths ideas to be found in my huge post on just the subject!

Another great maths website: Living Math