Math Story Books 数学帮帮忙 (Bilingual Chinese and English)

数学帮帮忙 Math Matters Series (Bilingual Simplified Chinese and English)

Last fall, my 5-year-old daughter started the 数学帮帮忙 Math Matters series with her Chinese teacher, and these are among my daughter’s all-time favorite books!

My daughter has always been fascinated by numbers and loves when I make up verbal word problems for her.  These math story books are a math lover’s dream come true!  The books introduce a variety of math concepts through stories and celebrate the wonder of math in everyday life.

Try this: How to Teach Kids Basic Math for Free

数学帮帮忙 Math Matters Bilingual Chinese English story books

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数学帮帮忙 Math Matters Series (Simplified Chinese Version) – Math story books for children

  • 作者 (Author): Various
  • Publisher: New Buds Publishing House (Tianjin)
  • Recommended age: 5-8 岁 (years) depending on math and Chinese fluency
  • Where to buy:
  • Where to listen: Ximalaya
  • Compatible with Luka Reading Robot which has high-quality narration
Math Story Books 数学帮帮忙 (Bilingual Simplified Chinese and English)

Bilingual math story books 目录 (数学帮帮忙 Titles)

Our set included 25 books as listed below.

Numbers and Operations 数字与运算:

  1. A Collection for Kate 小凯特的大收藏 (数学概念:加法)
  2. Off the Light 熄灯时间到! (数学概念:减法)
  3. The Blast Off Kid 宇宙小子 (数学概念:位值制计数法)
  4. Count on Pablo 我的小九九 (数学概念:乘法)
  5. Everybody Wins 每人都有份! (数学概念:除法)
  6. Clean-Sweep Campers 来自夏令营的信 (数学概念:分数)
  7. The Yum Yum House 甜甜的糖果屋 (数学概念:加减法)
  8. The Long Wait 漫长的等待 (数学概念:估算)

Measurements 量与计量:

  1. The 100-Pound Problem 100磅的难题 (数学概念:重量)
  2. Play Date 游戏日 (数学概念:日期)
  3. It’s About Time, Max 到点啦,麦克斯! (数学概念:时间)
  4. All Aboard 上车喽!(数学概念:时刻表)

Graphs and Geometry 图形与几何:

  1. Kitten Castle 猫咪城堡 (数学概念:立体图形)
  2. Where’s That Bone 宾果找骨头 (数学概念:方位)
  3. Chicken on the Move 小鸡搬家 (数学概念:周长)
  4. Math Fair Blues 摇滚数学日 (数学概念:平面图形)
  5. Sam’s Sneaker Squares 山姆的脚印格子 (数学概念:面积)
  6. X Marks the Spot! 外公的神秘藏宝 (数学概念:坐标图)

Properties 探索规律:

  1. Super Glass 超级眼镜 (数学概念:数字规律)
  2. Sunset Necklace 晚霞项链 (数学概念:规律)

Statistics and Probability 统计与概率:

  1. Grandma’s Button Box 外婆的纽扣宝盒 (数学概念:分类)
  2. Bad Luck Brad 倒霉蛋布拉德 (数学概念:概率)
  3. It’s About Time, Max! 马可的零用钱 (数学概念:条形统计图)
  4. Who’s Got Spots? 恼人的水痘 (数学概念:数据图表)
  5. Ask Mia 我们的校报 (数学概念:象形统计图)

Math Story Books: Review of 数学帮帮忙 

数学帮帮忙 Math Matters is a series of books that engages children in real-life math.  The realistic children’s stories have relatable characters and humorous situations that require math to solve problems.

The books teach basic math skills, such as sorting, patterns, addition, and subtraction to elementary school concepts, such as fractions, graphing, and calculating area.

It is not meant to be a comprehensive math curriculum, and the difficulty level can vary even within one story.

Related: Montessori Multiplication and Division Boards – Our Home Learning Experience

Math Story Books: Why we love 数学帮帮忙 

  1. They demonstrate that math learning opportunities are everywhere!  You can follow the book to find similar situations to teach your child.
  2. The children in the stories are all excited about learning math.  Since children often look at media as role models, the characters are wonderful examples.
  3. The narrative consists of various word problems interspersed with examples of math equations
  4. Attractive illustrations with humans as characters (as opposed to the too-many talking animal books!)
  5. The characters have diverse ethnicities.

Math Story Books: Our experience with 数学帮帮忙 

My daughter LOVES these math story books so much!  When she saw me taking out these books to photograph, she kept grabbing them from the pile to read!

So far, my daughter has read only a few math stories with her Chinese teacher.  The book is above my reading level, especially since I’m not very familiar with math terms in Mandarin Chinese.

Many Chinese idioms are used in each story which my daughter is learning much more quickly than me!  Since our Chinese teacher was out of town for a few months last year, they have been reading the books on and off over several months.

We ordered our 25-book set from China Sprout, but I wish that I knew about the 36 book set available elsewhere (see “Where to Buy” at the top of this post.)

Related: Montessori Pythagoras Board and Bilingual Multiplication Table (English and Chinese)

What is the appropriate age/grade level for these math story books?

Although the recommended age is age 5-8 years, I that some of the math stories could be suitable for fluent-speaking 3-year-old children.

On the other hand, older children who are beyond the math level may find the series helpful for Chinese reading practice.  If the child is already familiar with the math concepts, they can focus on acquiring the Chinese vocabulary.

For reference, many of the books are the perfect level for my 5-year-old.  However, we have to save some of the math story books for when she is older.

Photos inside 数学帮帮忙 Chinese Math Story Books

Here’s a look inside a few of the Chinese math books!

Math story: A Collection for Kate 小凯特的大收藏 (数学概念:加法)

This story focuses on addition as you can see 加法 (jiāfǎ / addition) at the top right corner of the cover.  This book helped my daughter learn to add multiple double digit numbers together and how to carry the 1.

Math story: A Collection for Kate 小凯特的大收藏 (数学概念:加法); 数学帮帮忙 Math Matters Series (Bilingual Simplified Chinese and English)

Math story: A Collection for Kate 小凯特的大收藏 (数学概念:加法); 数学帮帮忙 Math Matters Series (Bilingual Simplified Chinese and English)

Here are pictures of the back of the book, including a page with math questions and English translation.

Math story: A Collection for Kate 小凯特的大收藏 (数学概念:加法); 数学帮帮忙 Math Matters Series (Bilingual Simplified Chinese and English)

Math story: Off the Light 熄灯时间到! (数学概念:减法)

This is a fun book about subtraction involving apartment lights in a city!

For interactive learning, my daughter’s Chinese teacher sketched a drawing of an apartment and colored in windows as the lights were turned off.  I wish I captured a picture of it but hope you get a sense of the idea!

Math story: Off the Light 熄灯时间到! (数学概念:减法); 数学帮帮忙 Math Matters Series (Simplified Chinese Version)
Math story: Off the Light 熄灯时间到! (数学概念:减法); 数学帮帮忙 Math Matters Series (Simplified Chinese Version)
Math story: Off the Light 熄灯时间到! (数学概念:减法); 数学帮帮忙 Math Matters Series (Simplified Chinese Version)

Here are pictures of the back of the book, including a page with math questions and English translation.

Math story: Sunset Necklace 晚霞项链 (数学概念:规律)

This book is great for preschoolers and Kindergartners who are learning to create patterns.

My daughter definitely related to this book because her preschool class is constantly making necklaces with different patterns!

Math story: Sunset Necklace 晚霞项链 (数学概念:规律); 数学帮帮忙 Math Matters Series (Simplified Chinese Version)

Notice the relatable and engaging illustrations!

Math story: Sunset Necklace 晚霞项链 (数学概念:规律); 数学帮帮忙 Math Matters Series (Simplified Chinese Version)

Here is a look at how the patterns look in “worksheet” form!  As usual, the English translation is included in the last few pages.

Math story: Sunset Necklace 晚霞项链 (数学概念:规律); 数学帮帮忙 Math Matters Series (Simplified Chinese Version)

Math story: Grandma’s Button Box 外婆的纽扣宝盒 (数学概念:分类)

An adorable story about children exploring grandmother’s button box and learning how to sort by object properties!

Math story: Grandma's Button Box 外婆的纽扣宝盒 (数学概念:分类)
Math story: Grandma's Button Box 外婆的纽扣宝盒 (数学概念:分类); 数学帮帮忙 Math Matters Series (Simplified Chinese Version)

The end of the book has examples of different shapes and colors to work with!

Grandma's Button Box 外婆的纽扣宝盒 (数学概念:分类); 数学帮帮忙 Math Matters Series (Simplified Chinese Version)

Math story: Who’s Got Spots? 恼人的水痘 (数学概念:数据图表)

For several weeks, my daughter was obsessed with this book about chicken pox.  During that period, she asked a million questions about how vaccines prevent infection and how the rash looks and feels like!

This was a great opportunity to review vaccination benefits and that vaccines are the great reason that chickenpox is so rare.

Math story: Who's Got Spots? 恼人的水痘 (数学概念:数据图表)

Our teacher has been writing key Chinese idioms on Post-It notes as shown in the following images.

Who's Got Spots? 恼人的水痘 (数学概念:数据图表)

Math story: It’s About Time, Max! 马可的零用钱 (数学概念:条形统计图)

True to the title, this math story teaches kids how to tell time.  We have done a lot of hands-on clock learning activities that pair well with this book!

Math story: It's About Time, Max! 马可的零用钱 (数学概念:条形统计图)
It's About Time, Max! 马可的零用钱 (数学概念:条形统计图); 数学帮帮忙 Math Matters Series (Simplified Chinese Version)

In summary, I highly recommend the 数学帮帮忙 Chinese Math Story Books for preschoolers and lower elementary school children!

More Chinese Math resources for kids

HAPPY READING, FRIENDS!

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