PoppetSee it & count it
4 + 3 = 7
Maths starts as things you can point at. Counters show every single one, and a part-part-whole bar shows how two small groups make one bigger one.
The Poppet method
How our maths works
Every child grows at their own pace — so choose by what your child enjoys, not just their school year. These are books first: read them together, enjoy the story, and let the maths come along for the ride.
First hands, then pictures, then numbers
We teach the way schools do — concrete first, pictorial next, abstract last — so the numbers always stand for something your child has already seen.
Group it in tens
10 + 3 = 13
A full ten-frame becomes one friendly ten, with the loose ones counted alongside. Ten and a bit more — that is how teen numbers make sense.
Blocks, then numbers
20 + 4 = 24
By Year 2, sums outgrow counting one by one. This is how schools picture them on paper: base-ten blocks — every ten built from the same small unit — show two tens and four ones at a glance, so 24 reads as tens and ones rather than a long line of counters.
Seen maths is maths that sticks.
Which level suits my child?
Reception · Age 4–5
Best for: Beginning with numbers: counting, comparing, and sharing small groups to about 10.
Reading feel: One gentle line a page, shortest and simplest.
Pictures used: Real things to count and a part–whole bar.
Also for: little ones getting ready for school — and Year 1 consolidating their foundations.
Year 1 · Age 5–6
Best for: Confident counters: numbers to 100, adding and taking away, counting in 2s, 5s, and 10s, and first halves and quarters.
Reading feel: Short sentences, with the odd new word.
Pictures used: Ten-frames.
Year 2 · Age 6–7
Best for: Two-digit numbers, bigger adding and taking away, and the 2, 5, and 10 times tables.
Reading feel: Fuller joined-up sentences.
Pictures used: Base-ten blocks showing tens and ones.
Year 3 · Age 7–8
Best for: Numbers to 1,000, column sums, the 3, 4, and 8 times tables, and tenths.
Reading feel: Longer descriptive sentences and short chapters.
Pictures used: Hundreds, tens, and ones becoming written numbers.
Use it however you like
Every story bends to your family — read it as a calm bedtime book, or lean into the maths. The choice is yours and your child's, so a keen reader can happily enjoy the younger stories too.
- Maths stopson for a little practice · off for pure story
- Read aloudwe read it to them · or switch it off and they read it themselves
Use it as a book, or as a gentle maths sheet — whatever feels comfortable for you and your child.
No wrong answers, just gentle exposure
The maths is taught inside the story, so encourage your child to have a go — even at something they haven't learned yet. Get it? Wonderful. Not yet? Poppet simply shows them the right answer, kindly — no one fails here. The magic is meeting the correct answer again and again, on many happy occasions, until one day it just clicks.
Why we show the number sentence right awayEvery story shows its price clearly, with no subscription.