With Miner Birds Multiplication, pupils take on the role of a quirky chicken miner. They must use strategy, along with their times tables knowledge, to negotiate a path that will help them collect 20 worms as quickly as possible.
“Miner Birds Multiplication is about far more than just times table practice. The children must employ strategy and logical thinking to succeed,” said Rachel Hall, busythings MD. “This strategy element also helps boosts confidence and perseverance in those that may be struggling, as they can still make progress and even win.”
The gameplay encourages children to develop their decision making skills. Choosing a path with a higher worm-count may not always be the best solution - the more worms available, the trickier the multiplication question will be. They must also negotiate boulders and bonus boxes deciding if it is worth losing a worm or two in order to move forward.
Jonathan Fyne, a teacher at Delph Side Primary School, said: “I use busythings in my reception lessons all the time, and I know that the children in Key Stages 1 and 2 have really engaged with Miner Birds Multiplication, it’s a perfect revision tool for all abilities and has encouraged them to enjoy and want to practise their times tables.”
As with all busythings games and resources, teachers can customise the difficulty level of Miner Birds Multiplication to suit ability. The activity settings can be set to include any combination of the 1-12 times tables, and a timer can be included to encourage faster decision making. The resource can be used at the front of the room for whole-class learning at the interactive whiteboard, or for individual or small group practice on a desktop or laptop computer. Practice can continue offline too with supporting PDF worksheets.
Rachel added: “We take great pride in creating high-quality content which is fun to play and has clear educational objectives. We didn’t want to churn out a run-of-the-mill times table game. As with all our resources we aim to create something that children will really want to play. The feedback we’ve had from teachers so far is that children are asking for Miner Birds in their lessons – it’s true, they’re actually asking to practise their times tables! What more could we want.”
busythings are currently offering a free 28-day trial of their whole resource with over 400 resources, including Miner Birds Multiplication.
Visit www.busythings.co.uk or contact [email protected] for more information.
