Naki Kids

Eight free games for practising specific skills. These are evidence-informed designs, not a tested teaching programme. They have not been evaluated with children, and playing them does not prove wider learning gains.

Choose a useful challenge

About 4–6: count to ten, repeat shapes, make number pairs and fit small puzzles. Read and play together.
About 6–8: add and subtract to twenty, plan several moves and explore sharing and kindness.
About 8–11: find missing numbers and fractions, work backwards through patterns, plan number combinations and solve shortest routes.

Age filters suggest a starting point, not a test of ability. If a child explains most puzzles easily, try a harder level. If they are guessing or frustrated, use a clue or step down. Feelings are for discussion, not grading a child’s emotions.

What the games practise

• Number Garden / Number Bridge: quantities, addition, subtraction and number combinations.
• Pattern Detective / Pocket Packer: repeating rules, number sequences, rotation and fitting shapes.
• Route Robot: planning a sequence, testing it and finding a step to change.
• Stop, Think, Load: matching a rule and changing it. This is not a proven brain-training programme.
• Fair Share Picnic: equal sharing, division and fractions of a group.
• Kind Round: perspective-taking and helpful choices in fictional stories. Ask people how they feel and what would help.

Why these choices?

We use visible quantities, gradually harder tasks, helpful feedback and learning through the actual game moves. These choices draw on the IES early maths guide and research on integrating learning into games. Evidence for a design principle does not validate these particular games.

Anonymous play counts

Each online round sends its game name, start/finish event and a temporary random round code. The code prevents duplicate counts and expires after 24 hours; it does not identify a child. Daily totals are kept for up to a year. Offline play is not counted. Cloudflare processes normal connection information and short-lived abuse checks.

Turning this off does not affect the games. Browser Do Not Track and Global Privacy Control settings are also respected. Read our privacy information.

Play, then try it off screen

Ask: “How did you work that out?” Try the idea with blocks, paper shapes or spoken directions. A good explanation tells you more than a score. Short sessions and a natural stopping point after each round make it easy to take a break.

No sign-in, ads, chat, purchases, streaks or public scores. Answers and scores stay on this device. We count game starts and completed rounds to see which games get used. The counts contain no names, ages or answers. They cannot tell us how many individual children played. Pages and pictures load through normal website requests. Younger players will need help reading. Sound is optional; zoom stays available.