December 2018 – Denise Gaskins' Let's Play Math

Hapollonian Holidays from my Math Circle kids, and best wishes for a grace-filled holiday season. — Hapollonian Holiday Greetings from my co-op class kids, and best wishes for a grace-filled holiday season.

Do you know of any great math-related seasonal games, crafts, or activities I missed? Please add them to the comments section below.

As you scroll through the links below, you find several puzzle graphics from the wonderful Visual Patterns website.

Use them as conversation-starters with your kids: What do you notice? How does each pattern grow?

For older students: Can you write a formula to describe how each pattern? What will it look at stage 43?

A Bit of Fun

Setting the mood: Enjoy this bit of seasonal fidgeting from Vi Hart. If you don’t understand some of the references, that’s normal! Pick a phrase, Google it, and enjoy the fun of learning something new.

https://youtu.be/sxnX5_LbBDU&rel=0

Vi Hart’s (@vihartvihart) Christmas and Winter Holidays page.

Advent Math Activity Calendars

Every year, some of my favorite websites offer a seasonal selection of activities to encourage your children’s (and your own!) mathematical creativity, one for each day in the run-up to Christmas.

Colleen Young updates the list every year, so check out her pages:

Mathematical Advent Calendars
and other Christmas Mathematics Resources

Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!

Create math art with Sarah’s (@FrugalFun4Boys) Pattern Block Snowflakes. Or play around with her DIY Popsicle Stick Snowflake Building Kit.

Chelsey (@buggyandbuddy) puts together a fun craft kit for her kids to make Symmetrical Snowflakes.

Paula (@PaulaKrieg) celebrates paper-snowflake time and shares a new discovery: Spiraling Paper Ornament. These triskele globes made the perfect final project for my math classes last December.

Erica (Erica Blawat) examines the math of Snow Crystal Geometry.

Clarissa (@c0mplexnumber) demonstrates how to make beautiful, challenging origami snowflakes. She recommends beginners try the first few folds — which create a pretty cool design on their own. Let it Snow…

Mathwire.com offers a grab-bag of hands-on winter math activity ideas for every elementary and middle school student on your list:
Winter math activities 2005
Winter math activities 2006
Winter math activities 2007

K (@Ms_Kmp) reviews the distributive property with Algebra snowflakes and links to a make-your-own puzzle generator for math review at any level. Or download one of Craig’s (@mrbartonmaths) pre-made Tarsia Jigsaws.

Happy Hanukkah

Karyn (@TeachBesideMe) shares a cool Hanukkah STEM activity: Paper Circuit Menorah. Or try making her Gingerbread House Paper Circuits.

Brian (@Yummymath) examines the Hebrew calendar in Egad! It’s already time for Hanukkah. And check out his puzzle about the Soda Box Menorah.

Ben (@benorlin) reveals The Terrible Truth About Dreidel.

Hands-on Holidays

Have a big bag of colorful bows? Dyan (@andnextcomesl) suggests letting your kids try Graphing with Gift Bows. And be sure to save your wrapping paper tubes to make her Christmas Boredom Buster: Jingle Bell Run.

I adore Svenja’s (meine.svenja) beautiful stained-glass Tracing-Paper Poinsettias.

My math class had great fun with Matthew’s (@mscroggs) Christmas Flexagons (and more).

Paula (@PaulaKrieg) will keep you busy into the new year with her Round-up of Holiday Season Projects.

David (davidshaw) shares a 3-D Christmas present packing puzzle to keep your kids busy.

Clarissa (@c0mplexnumber) and students are Folding Christmas Fractals.

Adam (@mrslack_maths) challenges high school students’ geometry skills with these Christmas Constructions activities.

Pattern #197, from Stephanie Bowyer, Symbols

Following Yonder Star

Jmommymom (@jmommymom) and kids create several types of Folded Paper Stars.

Rohini (@RohiniWahi) is making DIY Origami Star Decorations.

Charlotte (about) shows how to make a beautiful DIY Moravian Star Tree Topper.

And Clarissa (@c0mplexnumber) links to instructions for a variety of Origami Christmas Decorations. And still More Origami Christmas Decorations (with an Outer Space theme).

Pattern #132, from Math Curmudgeon, Diagonals

Mathy Christmas Cards

Vicky (@VickyMaths1729) creates geometric holiday cards: Solving for Xmas.

Clarissa (@c0mplexnumber) demonstrates how to make a beautiful golden pentagram in Construct-a-Christmas-card.

Or check out Fractal Foundation’s Fractal Cutout Pop-Up Card.

Pattern #98, Centers are collinear, Fraction of the original circle shaded

Santa Claus Is Coming

Dear Santa: All I want for Christmas is a few pennies… A Penny for Your Math.

Where does Santa leave a mathematician’s presents? In the Christmas Stocking Theorem!

Chuckie (chuckieirish) challenges your students’ reasoning skills in the murder mystery Who Killed Santa? Or they can test their math-deduction ability in Whieldon’s (whieldon) Murder mystery for Christmas.

Did you know that NORAD’s Santa Tracker began with A Typo And A Good Sport?

Every year, physics-literalists have fun analyzing Santa’s magical journey:
The science behind Santa Claus
A Scientific Disproof of the Santa Theory, and a couple of Rebuttals Thereto
And for a mathemagical perspective: The Mathematics Of Santa Claus’ Present Delivery System

Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree

Chelsey (@buggyandbuddy) shares a cute Symmetry Christmas Tree Art Project for Kids. And you can decorate your real-world tree with her simple and surprisingly graceful Paper Strip Angel Ornament.

Sarah’s (@FrugalFun4Boys) family works together to create this beautiful Christmas Tree Tessellation. Check out all their other Christmas crafts and Lego activity ideas.

Karyn (@teachbesideme) turns Pascal’s Triangle into a coloring puzzle: Pascal’s Triangle Christmas Tree Math.

Bethany (@mathgeekmama) offers a free printable game for addition and subtraction: Grow a Christmas Tree Farm. Older kids might enjoy her series of Christmas Math and Logic Puzzles.

Graeme’s (@GraemeAnshaw) students explore area, fractions, and percentages with Mathematical Christmas Trees & Menorah Lamps.

Jim (@teachmaths) challenges his high school students to use their math skills (and a bit of luck) in The Great Elf Game.

Puzzles Under the Tree

Iva (@findthefactors) brings us A Gift-Wrapped Puzzle for the holidays. Or play with her Oh Christmas Tree and other Christmas multiplication puzzles.

Challenge your students with the real-world problems in Brian’s (@Yummymath) Pre-Winter Holiday Activities. Or check out the latest additions to his collection of Annual Holiday Puzzles.

Unfortunately, the holidays come smack in the middle of flu season. Did you come down with The Grinch Bug?

Word puzzles are fun, too! Can your students Translate that Christmas Carol?

Speaking of Christmas carols, the Christmas Price Index shows the current cost for one set of each of the gifts given in the song “The Twelve Days of Christmas.” I wonder what’s the cumulative cost of all the gifts, when you count each repetition in the song?

Craig (@mrbartonmaths) links to A countdown of maths resources to see you through to the Christmas holidays.

And try your hand at a few assorted Christmas math problems and puzzles from Transum. Or these challenge worksheets from Oxford University Press: Foundation Questions, and Shapes and Space.

Can you solve Alex’s (@alexbellos) holiday puzzles about Christmas wish lists, Victorian mince pies, and present-sorting machines?

https://youtu.be/A4C1DacGYVA&rel=0

For an algebra-1-level version (no logarithms), see Rafael’s (@OneMinuteMath) video Merry Christmas in Mathematics Language and Concepts.

Christmas Adventures with Alexandria Jones

Alexandria Jones and her family are fictional characters from my old Mathematical Adventures newsletter. Their stories appear sporadically as I find time to transcribe them from the back-issues. You can find them all on this blog page.

Here are all the Alexandria Jones stories Christmas stories, with activity and craft ideas…