Math Game Monday: Concentration with Math Model Cards

Posted on by Denise Gaskins
Learn a new math game every week, for free

This game lays a great foundation for your child’s understanding of multiplication and fractions.

Many parents remember struggling to learn math. We hope to provide a better experience for our children. And one of the best ways for children to enjoy learning is through hands-on play.

So what are you waiting for? Let’s play some math!

Concentration with Math Model Cards

Math Concepts: multiplication or fraction models, visual/spatial memory.

Players: any number.

Equipment: one deck of math model cards.

Continue reading Math Game Monday: Concentration with Math Model Cards

Thinking Thursday: Leo Tolstoy

Posted on by Denise Gaskins
Thinking Thursday math journal prompt

Writing to Learn Math: What did the author mean? Put the thought in your own words. Do you agree or disagree? Why?

Do you want your children to develop the ability to reason creatively and figure out things on their own?

Help kids practice slowing down and taking the time to fully comprehend a math topic or problem-solving situation with these classic tools of learning: Notice. Wonder. Create.

Continue reading Thinking Thursday: Leo Tolstoy

Playful Math 184: Carnival of Living Math

Posted on by Denise Gaskins
Playful Math Carnival 184

Welcome to the 184th edition of the Playful Math Education Blog Carnival — a smorgasbord of delectable tidbits of mathy fun. It’s like a free online magazine devoted to learning, teaching, and playing around with math from preschool to high school.

With all the links, a blog carnival can feel overwhelming. Bookmark this article, so you can take your time reading the posts.

“Living math” means bringing our children face-to-face with the big ideas of mathematics to help them develop their reasoning skills. When the ideas of math come to life for our children, their minds delight in seeing how numbers and shapes connect to each other and exploring these relationships.

Scattered between the playful math links below, you’ll find quotations from my new book Charlotte Mason’s Living Math, along with several paintings of children playing and learning which I considered for the book but ran out of room.

“The lesson” by Rafael Frederico, 1895.

By tradition, we start the carnival with a puzzle/activity in honor of our 184th edition. But if you’d rather jump straight to our featured blog posts, click here to see the Table of Contents.

Continue reading Playful Math 184: Carnival of Living Math

We’re Counting Down the Hours!

Posted on by Denise Gaskins
family doing math together

Charlotte Mason's Living Math bookAre you a parent or teacher? Here’s how to:

  • Feed your children’s minds with big ideas.
  • Give them confidence they can learn and make sense of things.
  • Develop intuition and creative thinking about math.

You’ll love how Charlotte Mason’s Living Math transforms your children’s experience of math, awakening their imagination about numbers, shapes, and patterns.

It’s a fun way to enrich any math curriculum, and great for unschoolers, too.

But you have to ACT FAST: The Kickstarter campaign ends Thursday night!

Order Your Copy Today ❯

Quotation from Charlotte Mason: Of all his early studies, perhaps none is more important to the child as a means of education than that of arithmetic. There is no one subject in which good teaching effects more, as there is none in which slovenly teaching has more mischievous results.

Math Game Monday: Dinosaur Race

Posted on by Denise Gaskins
Learn a new math game every week, for free

This game helps preschool children develop counting and number sense.

Many parents remember struggling to learn math. We hope to provide a better experience for our children. And one of the best ways for children to enjoy learning is through hands-on play.

So what are you waiting for? Let’s play some math!

Dinosaur Race

Math Concepts: number symbols, counting beyond ten, number line.

Players: any number.

Equipment: subitizing cards, number line racetrack, small plastic dinosaur or other toy for each player.

Continue reading Math Game Monday: Dinosaur Race

Thinking Thursday: Comparison Puzzles

Posted on by Denise Gaskins
Thinking Thursday math journal prompt

Writing to Learn Math: Measurement is our way of connecting numbers to the things we find in the world, in daily life.

Do you want your children to develop the ability to reason creatively and figure out things on their own?

Help kids practice slowing down and taking the time to fully comprehend a math topic or problem-solving situation with these classic tools of learning: Notice. Wonder. Create.

Continue reading Thinking Thursday: Comparison Puzzles

Math Game Monday: Prism Power

Posted on by Denise Gaskins
Learn a new math game every week, for free

This game encourages players to reason about the relationships between length dimensions and volume in a 3-D shape.

Many parents remember struggling to learn math. We hope to provide a better experience for our children. And one of the best ways for children to enjoy learning is through hands-on play.

So what are you waiting for? Let’s play some math!

Prism Power

Math Concepts: rectangular volume, cubic units.

Players: two or more.

Equipment: printed gameboard or plain paper, pencils or markers, one six-sided die, 40–50 cubic blocks per player.

Continue reading Math Game Monday: Prism Power

Thinking Thursday: Math Debate

Posted on by Denise Gaskins
Thinking Thursday math journal prompt

Writing to Learn Math: You can spark creative thought by removing any need to worry about spelling or punctuation rules.

Do you want your children to develop the ability to reason creatively and figure out things on their own?

Help kids practice slowing down and taking the time to fully comprehend a math topic or problem-solving situation with these classic tools of learning: Notice. Wonder. Create.

Continue reading Thinking Thursday: Math Debate

Why I Love Kickstarter

Posted on by Denise Gaskins
Charlotte Mason's Living Math Kickstarter

Charlotte Mason's Living Math bookOver the next two weeks, you’ll be hearing a lot about Kickstarter and my Charlotte Mason’s Living Math project. I’m proud of the book, and I want to spread the news as far and wide as possible.

You’ll love how Charlotte Mason’s Living Math transforms your children’s experience of math, awakening their imagination about numbers, shapes, and patterns.

But I know there are many readers who don’t know much about crowdfunding. Some people even think that a campaign like this is just online begging.

So I want to share what I totally love about Kickstarter and how much it offers you, the customer:

(1) It’s the “New World” of publishing.

In the old days, traditional publishing companies paid writers in advance to write the books the publisher wanted to see. In this new world, you get to choose and support the writers creating books you want to read.

Continue reading Why I Love Kickstarter