Unlike Esa Helttula's other apps, which allow kids to practice specific skills through a no-nonsense kind of interface, Esa's latest app, for the iPad, gives kids a playground of sorts to play around ...

So instead of sitting your kids down with some workbooks as they get ready for the start of school, try these fun math games. No special materials are required ... just the willingness to look at math ...

Your youngster can learn that multiplication is actually just a method of repeatedly adding multiple groups of the same number by using objects like blocks and small toys.

Children often struggle to memorize multiplication facts, as Hechinger reported, but research suggests it may be worth the effort. Cognitive scientists say that learning your times tables by heart ...