I was never one for math… at all. It’s one of those things I look back on with much regret. I wish I could blame it on some issue with the ole’ noggin but, alas, it was a lack of self-discipline – the student’s ancient foe (let this sad story be a lesson to all of my younger readers). While Amazing Math: Subitize Me! can do nothing to ward off the plague of apathy and laziness, I believe it could help make the early stages of learning math kind of fun.

Subitize Me! is a DVD produced by the Lammiman family – owners of the company Movie Makers – to teach children the valuable skill of subitizing. To be perfectly frank, I hadn’t the foggiest clue what ‘subitizing’ was when this product arrived in the mail so, for those readers who are as befuddled as I was about the meaning, here is the definition from Dictionary.com:

“to perceive at a glance the number of items presented, the limit for humans being about seven.”

The DVD contains a featurette and subitizing exercises. The story line is about two children explorers, TT and Bebo, who have been given an opportunity to obtain a vast sum of gold but in order to do so, they must first determine how many gold pieces there are. Unsuccessful in their first attempt, they go on a series of mini-missions and learn how to subitize. The exercises on the DVD are essentially the same as those used in the featurette, but designed so that children can practice subitizing themselves, utilizing the concepts presented.

In terms of production quality, Subitize Me! scores poorly. The actors were filmed on a green-screen and placed in distracting two-dimensional, computer-animated settings. The featurette does not have a polished, professional feel with regard to pace, script, or acting. However, in terms of educational value, I feel that Subitize Me! was a success. It clearly demonstrates both the method and application of subitizing in a way that most young children will likely enjoy. I think it is particularly beneficial that the featurette demonstrates multiple ways of subitizing; after naming the correct number of objects in each exercise, the actors explain how they arrived at the answer – describing their own particular method. Note: whilst perusing Movie Maker’s website, I was thrilled to find a treasure trove of subitizing flash cards which parents can download and print, free of charge!

If you have young children just starting out in the wild world of math, this DVD may be worth adding to your library.