At PlusKids the children learned that maths, too, can be learned through play. There was great delight in making their own ice cream out of digits and, through play, breaking down the numbers from 0 to 100.
Breaking numbers apart is not a textbook whim; it is precisely the step everything else depends on. A child who sees straight away that 47 means 4 tens and 7 units carries out addition with regrouping without stumbling; one who does not see it will still be counting on their fingers long after their classmates have moved on.
And the difference between a worksheet and an ice cream built with your own hands is that in the second case the number becomes an object that can be taken apart and put back together. That is, it can be checked, not merely believed.