February 12, 2022
Best for supporting maths learning – Cubie Education box
Great to be included in The independent’s Indy Best
We were offered the chance to submit one of our Cubie boxes for evaluation. We are so pleased with the feedback that we received! It’s a great pleasure to be included alongside some other great companies all striving for screen-free entertainment and education for your little ones.
Best: For supporting maths learning
Rating: 8/10
“Most parents find it easy enough to fit in some reading with their children each day, but when it comes to supporting them with maths, it doesn’t always feel so straightforward. This clever subscription box from Cubie Education is designed to help kids in the early years and key stage 1 with maths through easy to follow, bitesize exercises.
The box includes everything you need for a month’s work of maths learning – right down to a pencil, ruler and reward stickers for that all-important wall chart. In the box you’ll receive a booklet aimed at the right level of learning depending on what year your child is at school, which features enough work for around 15 minutes of maths a day for the full month. No need to print out anything – hooray! You’ll also receive a parent’s book with all the answers and there’s plenty of help on the website if needed.
At the front of each booklet is a handy key, with picture symbols to let your child know if they need to write, say, match or colour the activities on each page. There’s also a stop sign which shows where your child needs to work up to that day.
Although it’s presented in a fun and clear way, we were not entirely convinced our five-year-old would be up for an extra 10-15 minutes of maths a day, but we were pleasantly surprised. The way Cubie is designed makes the short maths session feel like a game, and our tester enjoyed working his way through the booklet on his own until he reached the stop sign. The excitement of ticking off his day’s work and adding a sticker to his reward chart was enough to convince him to give it a go most days, although we occasionally skipped a day if he really wasn’t feeling it.
Yes, it might not have the wow factor of some of the other subscription boxes, but its educational credentials really impressed. This is exactly the kind of thing we wished we’d discovered during lockdown, when our attempts to help with maths during home-schooling were more than a little shoddy.”
Sarah Dawson