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Playful Math Carnival 125 at Singapore Maths Tuition

Posted on by Denise Gaskins

Check out the latest carnival of playful math for all ages:

Each monthly Playful Math Education Blog Carnival brings you a great new collection of puzzles, math conversations, crafts, teaching tips, and all sorts of mathy fun.

It’s like a free online magazine of mathematical adventures. Enjoy!

William put together this carnival of 10 evergreen links — helpful and inspiring no matter when you read them — featuring chess statistics, a horse riddle, fish that count, and more.

Click Here to Read the Carnival Blog

Want to Join in the Fun?

Do you have a favorite blog post about math activities, games, lessons, or hands-on fun? The Playful Math Blog Carnival would love to feature your article!

We welcome math topics from preschool through the first year of calculus. Old posts are welcome, as long as they haven’t been published in past editions of this carnival.

To submit a blog article for consideration, fill out this form:

Yes! Please Share My Post

Have you noticed a new math blogger on your block that you’d like to introduce to the rest of us? Feel free to submit another blogger’s post in addition to your own. Beginning bloggers are often shy about sharing, but like all of us, they love finding new readers.

CREDITS: Carnival photo (top) by Scott Trento on Unsplash.

Playful Math Carnival 124 at Life Through A Mathematician’s Eyes

Posted on by Denise Gaskins

Check out the new playful math blog carnival at Life Through A Mathematician’s Eyes blog. Ioana put together a great collection of math games, activities, and teaching tips:

Click here to go read the carnival blog

And if you’re a blogger, be sure to submit your blog post for next month’s carnival!

Do You Want More Ways to Play with Math?

Past carnivals are still full of mathy treasure. See them all on Pinterest:

Public Domain Day

Posted on by Denise Gaskins

In honor of Public Domain Day…

Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening

Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village, though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound’s the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

—Robert Frost

[And Why the Public Domain Matters.]

CREDITS: “Snow falling in a forest” photo (top) by Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash.

2019 Mathematics Game: Playful Math for All Ages

Posted on by Denise Gaskins

Happy 2019! Have you set any goals for the year?

My goals are to continue playing with math (1) in my homeschool co–op classes and (2) on this blog — and (3) hopefully to publish a couple of new books as well.

My favorite way to celebrate any new year is by playing the Year Game. It’s a prime opportunity for players of all ages to fulfill the two most popular New Year’s Resolutions: spending more time with family and friends, and getting more exercise.

So grab a partner, slip into your workout clothes, and pump up those mental muscles!

Rules of the Game

Use the digits in the year 2019 to write mathematical expressions for the counting numbers 1 through 100. The goal is adjustable: Young children can start with looking for 1-10, middle grades with 1-25.

  • You must use all four digits. You may not use any other numbers.
  • Solutions that keep the year digits in 2-0-1-9 order are preferred, but not required.
  • You may use a decimal point to create numbers such as .2, .02, etc., but you cannot write 0.02 because we only have one zero in this year’s number.
  • You may create multi-digit numbers such as 10 or 201 or .01, but we prefer solutions that avoid them.

My Special Variations on the Rules

  • You MAY use the overhead-bar (vinculum), dots, or brackets to mark a repeating decimal. But students and teachers beware: you can’t submit answers with repeating decimals to Math Forum.
  • You may NOT use a double factorial, n!! = the product of all integers from 1 to n that have the same parity (odd or even) as n. The Math Forum allows them, but I feel much more creative when I can wrangle a solution without invoking them.

For many years mathematicians, scientists, engineers and others interested in mathematics have played “year games” via e-mail and in newsgroups. We don’t always know whether it is possible to write expressions for all the numbers from 1 to 100 using only the digits in the current year, but it is fun to try to see how many you can find.

— Math Forum Year Game Site

Click here to continue reading.

Holiday Math Puzzles and Activities for Christmas, Winter Break

Posted on by Denise Gaskins
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?

Pattern #7, Trees

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.

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:

Pattern #9, Snowflakes

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

  • 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…
Pattern #20, Helmets

Happy Hanukkah

Pattern #30, from John Golden, Squares

Hands-on Holidays

Pattern #197, from Stephanie Bowyer, Symbols

Following Yonder Star

Pattern #132, from Math Curmudgeon, Diagonals

Mathy Christmas Cards

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

Santa Claus Is Coming

Pattern #8, Penguins

Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree

Pattern #152, from John Golden, Circles

Puzzles Under the Tree

  • Unfortunately, the holidays come smack in the middle of flu season. Did you come down with The Grinch Bug?
Pattern #52, Cubes
  • 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?

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…

Pattern #174, from Katie Gates, Squares

What About Worksheets?

Do you need to keep your kids busy and work in a bit of math practice? Try these Christmas word problems:

Or visit the sites below for worksheets to cover all ages:

Pattern #28, Surface area

CREDITS: “Circle Packing” feature graphic (top) by fdecomite via Flickr (CC BY 2.0). Picture pattern puzzles from Visual Patterns website.

Playful Math Education Carnival 123: Hundred Chart Edition

Posted on by Denise Gaskins

Do you enjoy math? I hope so!

If not, browsing this post just may change your mind.

Welcome to the 123rd edition of the Playful Math Education Blog Carnival — a smorgasbord of delectable tidbits of mathy fun.

The Playful Math Carnival is like a free online magazine devoted to learning, teaching, and playing around with math from preschool to high school. This month’s edition features \left ( 1 + 2 + 3 \right )^{2} = 36 \: articles from bloggers all across the internet.†

You’re sure to find something that will delight both you and your child.

By tradition, we start the carnival with a puzzle in honor of our 123rd edition. But if you would like to jump straight to our featured blog posts, click here to see the Table of Contents.

†Or more, depending on how you count. And on whether I keep finding things to squeeze in under the looming deadline. But if there are more, then there are certainly 36. Right?

Continue reading Playful Math Education Carnival 123: Hundred Chart Edition

70+ Things To Do with a Hundred Chart

Posted on by Denise Gaskins

Do the holidays mess with your schedule? They sure do mine!

Every year, we get busy. Distracted. Just can’t focus on lessons.

I love easy activities that require minimal preparation so I can pull something out and play when we’re having one of those no-energy days.

If that sounds good to you, too, then you’ll want to check out my new ebook 70+ Things To Do with a Hundred Chart: Number, Shape, and Logic Activities from Preschool to Middle School.

Long years ago, when I did workshops at homeschooling conferences, I used to share a list of seven ways to play with a hundred chart. The all-time most visited post on my blog offers 34 playful activities. Now I’ve more than doubled that total for this book.

So many ways to play! One of them is sure to be perfect for you and your children.

Take your child on a mathematical adventure with these playful, practical activities.

Who knew math could be so much fun?

Get your copy today!

“It is exactly the kind of math exploration that I want to undertake with my kids.

“After reading through the book, I noticed myself making more room to trust my kids’ ability to make connections and not try to dominate by telling them how math ‘should’ work.

“An excellent way for me to move outside my math and teaching comfort zones and explore math more deeply with my kids.”

— Olisia Barron, author of ThimbleberryHome.wordpress.com

P.S.: If you have a blog and would like to host a giveaway for 70+ Things To Do with a Hundred Chart (or any of my other books), I’d be glad to provide the prize. Leave a comment below or use the contact form on my “About” page, and we’ll set up all the details.

Hundred Charts Galore!

Posted on by Denise Gaskins

Check out my new printables for playing math with your kids:

The free 50-page PDF Hundred Charts Galore! file features 1–100 charts, 0–99 charts, bottom’s-up versions, multiple-chart pages, blank charts, game boards, and more. Everything you need to play the activities in my new 70+ Things to Do with a Hundred Chart book.

Download Hundred Charts Galore

Or you can use these charts with the activities in my all-time most popular blog post:

Playful Math Carnival 122 at Arithmophobia No More

Posted on by Denise Gaskins

Check out the latest carnival of playful math for all ages:

Each monthly Playful Math Education Blog Carnival brings you a great new collection of puzzles, math conversations, crafts, teaching tips, and all sorts of mathy fun.

It’s like a free online magazine of mathematical adventures. Enjoy!

Sonya put together this carnival of evergreen links — helpful and inspiring no matter when you read them — featuring math comics, a couple conversations on Euler, Truchet and infinity tiles, Islamic art, counting and counting ropes, negative numbers, and more.

Click Here to Read the Carnival Blog

Want to Join in the Fun?

Do you have a favorite blog post about math activities, games, lessons, or hands-on fun? The Playful Math Blog Carnival would love to feature your article!

We welcome math topics from preschool through the first year of calculus. Old posts are welcome, as long as they haven’t been published in past editions of this carnival.

To submit a blog article for consideration, fill out this form:

Yes! Please Share My Post

Have you noticed a new math blogger on your block that you’d like to introduce to the rest of us? Feel free to submit another blogger’s post in addition to your own. Beginning bloggers are often shy about sharing, but like all of us, they love finding new readers.