It’s summer here in Manila and the sweltering heat is something else. After 9AM, temperatures can hit a deadly 45 degrees celsius. I myself have been on the bike less, keeping exercise indoors. I’m fine. It’s the kids I’m a bit worried about. Since school is out, I’ve been trying to get them into other activities that don’t involve the screen (good luck). They do have football practice three times a week but this is limited to late afternoons to early evenings because … heatstroke!
So as a parent I’ve been browsing online for other activities they can do to keep their minds active. As a digital parent who writes about technology I kinda have to lean into this whole thing. I previously wrote about some tech-centric toys that don’t have screens but lo and behold, while browsing some online communities, one link led to another and I was able to discover a site that had a collection of browser based games – many of which were actually educational as they sharpened the mind with math problems.
With my kids, I would send them off to online tutors three times a week during the school year. I really wanted to give them a break from this over the next two to three months. I also realized almost immediately that browser-based games have a different feel to it. My youngest son has a tablet with a collection of his usual games (including Roblox) so being able to run these math games from my phone or laptop – yes we imposed a no tablet rule for some days during the summer – lets me curate the screen time a bit more.
Counting Money
The first game is a money counting game. I remember when my kids were in early gradeschool they were having some trouble counting coins and bills — moreso adding these up to equal a certain amount. It took a lot of practice with real world money to get them to understand these concepts of addition with coins and bills. This money counting game makes use of US dollar bills and coins but can still be played by anyone who isn’t familiar with the dollar currency symbols because of a HINTS button you can slide on or off to show the value of the bill or coin. It’s super fun for kids as they can drag currency to the highlighted box to match the total amount being asked.
Grocery Cashier
Ever wanted to experience the pressure of being a cashier at the grocery? Within the time limit, you’re supposed to punch in the items, determine the total cost, and apply special discount vouchers. Afterwards, you will need to compute the change in bills and coins. It really took us a while to get into the groove, but once you get used to punching in the items and determe appropriate change using addition and subtraction skills, the math becomes really fun.
Math and Prizes
One of the most challenging elementary math puzzles in this collection is called Math and Prizes. Not only does it combine knowledge of counting money, it also makes use of all four basic mathematical operations — addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. It’s actually quite wild as the problems don’t just involve whole numbers but cents as well.
In this collection, there are actually more types of games like idle clickers and puzzle solving simulators that all run from the browser. However, as a parent I’m really more attracted to these math games as it can really help build confidence and keep my kids occupied even when we’re on the go and have a few minutes of downtime to spare, like when we are at a restaurant and waiting for food. I hope other parents can get wind of these games and share them with their kids!
https://www.abuggedlife.com/2025/05/18/fun-browser-based-math-games-for-kids-to-enjoy/
