Illuminations: Resources for teaching math (interesting! free! K-12)
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Illuminations is a website maintianed by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. The website has interactive math games that allow kids to explore math concepts or review math facts, without being tedious drills. A few favorites in our house:
To get your turtle to the turtle pond, you must program the turtle's route in advance (reminds me strongly of LOGO programming) avoiding obstacles, and estimating angles and distance. Easier modes without obstacles, and only using 90 degree turns, and tougher modes without the graph paper background are available.
A competitive, strategic game where you try to choose the number on the screen with the fewest yet unchosen factors available, and your competitor does the same. For example, if you choose 25, and 5 and 1 have not yet been selected, you get 25 points, and your competitor gets 6 points (5+1). It's a fun game that requires the players to know their multiplication facts (although it's untimed, so there's not a huge amount of pressure).
Let kids explore cryptography and code breaking. A lesson plan teaching acoompanies the interactive activity.
There are also lesson plans on a wide range of topics and online tools for teachers. All free!
