Exploramania

Exploramania is an educational company that is committed to developing products that engage children both mentally and physically. They use a multiple sensory approach to learning. I received a unique product called Gymathics to review.

Gymathics is a DVD that combines exercise with learning mathematical concepts. During different portions of the exercise routine, different types of math are taught. For example, during the stretching portion, shapes, angles, parallel lines and other similar concepts are demonstrated. During a cardio-vascular workout, there are counting and various skip-counting sections.There is a short sample of the video available on their website.

This product gets mixed reviews in our family. My two older children (11 and 9) do not like the video. My younger son (7) likes to watch it, but doesn’t do the exercises. Since the exercise is a vital component to the program, it’s really not useful for us. It seems that there is a mismatch between the difficulty of the math concepts and the age that is likely to enjoy this type of video.  The geometry concepts are more suited to middle to late elementary aged students, but those students are old enough to feel “silly” using the video. Younger students are more likely to find it fun, except they have more difficulty in keeping up with the exercise routine and are less likely to understand any of the math except for the skip counting. I think the skip counting portion could be extremely beneficial and I do plan to encourage my 7 year old to try that section again.

Gymathics and other products by Exploramania are available on their website. The DVD is $24.99.