7 cheap tools that will help parents and their elementary-age kids with basic math skills

I'm a big believer that practice and memorization can greatly enhance someone's math skills, especially when it comes to multiplication and the "times tables" up to 12. The Big Math app has easy-to-use virtual flash cards that can be used to practice simple addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. Make it fun and play with the whole family.

If you don't want another reason for your child to be on their phone or iPad, get a set of Scholastic flash cards. Be sure to not only encourage your child to practice on their own, make sure you practice with them too.

This book does a good job of showing how math can be applied to business and real-life situations. Part youth fiction, part math lesson, "Project Popcorn" follows the Community Champions, who are selling popcorn in order to raise money for families in need. Kids will see how and why mean, median, and mode are used, and why math is important for business and fundraising ventures.

This set is suitable for parents who need help explaining how fractions work to their children. It includes 50 activities to teach a child fraction basics plus more challenging topics such as equivalent fractions, comparing fractions, fractions of a set, common denominators, adding and subtracting fractions, simplifying fractions, and multiplying and dividing fractions.

These 12-by-18-inch dry-erase charts double as a nice visual reminder and as an activity. The front of each chart offers a visual overview of different measurement conversions, while the flip side of each features activities that you can do on the chart itself with a dry-erase marker. Charts cover customary units of measurement; length, capacity, weight, and temperature; and time and temperature measurement. They align with state and national standards, including Common Core.

Beast Academy's practice and guide books include full curricula for kids ages 8 to 13. They're called "Beast Academy" because the books are illustrated like a graphic novel featuring different monster characters. I recommend these workbooks if you and your child are ready to commit to doing regular, at-home work, which makes them the perfect weekend or summer break purchase. There are 16 books to choose from, depending on your child's age and the subject matter.

This book is perfect for kids 8 to 11 years old who may be inclined to say they love reading but hate math. It features logic puzzles (essentially a word problem in math), crosswords, cryptograms, acrostics, word searches, and mazes, and will strengthen your kid's analytical and logical thinking.

Do not underestimate the power of simple graph paper. Everyone with school-age children should have a steady supply of this at home. You can use it to create your own multiplication tables. It's also great for visually showing how units of measurement and place values work, and as its name suggests, it's great for creating tables and graphs. Graph paper is also a handy tool for learning shapes and drawing polygons (2D shapes made with straight lines) and practicing area and perimeter problems.