The Crazy Birthday Candle Jungle is the world Eric J. Carter created by applying his imagination and artwork to my dream. Monkey Moe, Myrtle Turtle, the Margin Varmints and all ten Mathamanimals are not just drawn on the pages… but come alive there and when kiddos visit, the smiles will soon follow. A kiddo having fun is a kiddo more open to learning.
Each of the Mathamanimal books takes your kiddo on a birthday journey ten birthdays long. The math is everywhere in the art work by Eric J. Carter. Side by side with the birthday bananas, the birthday blocks and birthday cakes with special birthday candles, each Mathamanimal ages in bouncy rhyme.
But Mathamanimals aren’t the same in the crazy birthday candle game. Instead of learning their traditional “ones” through “tens”, the kiddos are exposed to “One-a-roo Sue” through “Ten-ti-pede Pete.” One-a-roo Sue’s birthday cakes take candle ones. Sue ages just like the kiddo, one year at a time. But Ten-ti-pede Pete’s birthday cakes take candle tens. Pete is ten on his first birthday. Three-ba Reba’s cakes take candle threes. Reba is three her first birthday. Pete grows in ten new legs each birthday. Reba gets three new color-coded stripes each year en route to her 30th stripe on birthday ten. The math IS everywhere Eric could hide it behind the fun. Helping these animals figure out their birthday math makes learning fun for your kiddos. And while they are having so much fun, they forget that they are actually figuring out a math problem.
On this website, all the fun is condensed on ten sets of twenty cards called Flashcakes. Flashcakes are flashcards in disguise. The kiddos can play Concentration, How Old Am I? or How Many Candles On My Cake? in our fun and interactive games section. (Next up… a version of Old Maid as Old Moe/Old Myrtle and maybe Go Fish.)
Of course, none of this is a quick fix or a silver bullet. Kids always have been – and always will be – just kids. My job is to toss in a little fun to get their mind off of the fear, and tossing in “Eight-a-gate Nate! Gotta Go! Can’t wait!” to give you a fun platform to teach the kiddos to wash their hands can’t hurt either.