Magic Maths

What is it

Players take turns to solve the sums and fill their boards with spell ingredients, from worm-infested cupcakes to brains and bogies.

Once players have worked out the answer to the sum, the magic begins…they turn over their card and rub the heat sensitive patches to reveal the answer.

Magic Maths has been designed in collaboration with teachers specifically for KS1 maths. It incorporates a broad range of sums including addition, subtraction and multiplication.

What our experts think

Magic Maths is a fun and magical game from Orchard Toys; the cards are sturdy with eye-catching, colourful illustrations that appealed to children.  The magic element of the game was fun (although some of our testers found it hard to rub and reveal the answers)  and the strange items made the children giggle! This is a lovely way to encourage young children to practise mental maths in a fun, relaxed way. Playing in a group also develops social skills such as turn taking.

We liked the fact that the instructions used images as this made it easier to explain the game to the children, and it also meant that older children could read the instructions for themselves. Some of the sums were tricky and the children needed help with them, but this gives adults an opportunity to teach and reinforce strategies and encourage perseverance, without children’s confidence being knocked.