Activities – Denise Gaskins' Let's Play Math

Math Game Monday: Fraction Train

Posted on July 26, 2021July 14, 2021 by Denise Gaskins

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.

Upper-elementary and middle school students will master a variety of fraction concepts with this fun domino game.

“Fraction Train” is free on this website for one week only. It’s an excerpt from Multiplication & Fractions: Math Games for Tough Topics, which is available as an ebook at my publisher’s store (where you get all formats for one low price, and I earn higher no-middleman royalties) or through other online retailers, or by special request through your local library. Read more about my playful math books here.

Fraction Train

Math Concepts: proper and improper fractions, comparing and ordering fractions.

Players: any number.

Equipment: one set of double-six or double-nine dominoes.

Continue reading Math Game Monday: Fraction Train

Math Game Monday: Push the Penny

Posted on July 19, 2021July 14, 2021 by Denise Gaskins

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.

This game offers young children a chance to practice counting and early addition skills while racing to beat their parents.

“Push the Penny” is free on this website for one week only. It’s an excerpt from Math You Can Play Combo: Number Games for Young Learners, which is available as an ebook at my publisher’s store (where you get all formats for one low price, and I earn higher no-middleman royalties) or through other online retailers, or by special request through your local library. Read more about my playful math books here.

Push the Penny

Math Concepts: addition to one hundred, thinking ahead.

Players: two or more.

Equipment: playing cards (remove face cards and jokers), a hundred chart, and a penny or other small token.

Continue reading Math Game Monday: Push the Penny

Math Game Monday: The Partitions Game

Posted on July 12, 2021July 19, 2021 by Denise Gaskins

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.

This game features the Cuisenaire rods, but you may play with any math manipulative based on length: Montessori bead chains, Mortensen or Math-U-See blocks, etc. Or draw pictures on graph paper.

“The Partitions Game” is free on this website for one week only. It’s an excerpt from Let’s Play Math: How Families Can Learn Math Together—and Enjoy It, which is available as an ebook at my publisher’s store (where you get all formats for one low price, and I earn higher no-middleman royalties) or through other online retailers, or by special request through your local library. Read more about my playful math books here.

The Math Game Monday posts will be available for one week only. If you missed this one, explore the links in the sidebar. There are more than forty free games scattered around the blog. Have fun playing math with your kids!

Notice, Wonder, Create

Posted on April 15, 2021May 25, 2021 by Denise Gaskins

Many homeschooling parents dream of a mathematical magic bullet — a game, app, or book that will help their children learn math and enjoy it.

As in life, so also in math, there is no magic solution.

Do you want your children to learn math and enjoy it? Teach them to be Math Makers.

When they create their own math, students build deep, personal connections to math concepts. They think about the relationships between numbers, shapes, and patterns. Math becomes personal.

Toys, hobbies, favorite stories — all can be fodder for math creation.

Where Do Math Makers Get Ideas?

Let the child choose something to think about.

Make an “I Notice” list. How does that item relate to math? What patterns or shapes can you see?

Or how would the story characters use numbers in their daily lives? Would they cook, or go shopping? Might they build something? Would they decorate it with a design? What would they count or measure?

Make an “I Wonder” list. How many different ways might you turn the things you noticed into questions? What else might you ask?

Then turn one of your noticings or wonderings into a math story, poem, puzzle, drawing, or game. Create your own math. Share your creation with family and friends.

Now Get Published

Join the Student Math Makers team. We’d love to add your math creation to our collection and share it with viewers all around the world!

Download a Math Makers Invitation and Submission Form below:

CREDITS: Feature photo (top) by MI PHAM via Unsplash.com.

Math Makers: Write a Poem

Posted on April 13, 2021July 9, 2021 by Denise Gaskins

Last week, I mentioned my new project, the Student Math Makers Gallery where children and teens can share their original math creations with the world.

So this week, I’m offering inspiration to get your children’s creative juices flowing.

Let’s Write Math Poetry

April is National Poetry Month, and it’s also Mathematics and Statistics Awareness Month.

What better way to celebrate than writing math poetry?

Write a poem about a math concept or idea, using your favorite style of verse.

Or write a poem about any subject, using a mathematical constraint.

Or both: write a poem about math, constrained by math.

Here are some examples…

Continue reading Math Makers: Write a Poem

New! Your Student Can Be a Math Maker

Posted on April 8, 2021May 25, 2021 by Denise Gaskins

When children create their own math, they build a deep understanding of mathematical concepts and relationships.

And it’s fun!

So take a break from your normal math program to play with creative math. Students can:

Make up their own math game.
Write a story or poem.
Draw a comic.
Pose a problem.
Create math art.
Think up a challenge question.
Or write a puzzle.

Check Out the Gallery

We have a few entries already in the Student Math Makers Gallery.

Click Here To Visit the Gallery

Join the Student Math Makers

We’d love to add your students’ math to our collection and share it with viewers all around the world!

To submit a math creation, download a Math Makers Invitation and Submission Form below:

CREDITS: “Creating Math Puzzles by Sian Zelbo, the author of Camp Logic, via NaturalMath.com.

Final (?) Lockdown Ebook Sale

Posted on March 23, 2021March 22, 2021 by Denise Gaskins

Would anyone have guessed we’d still be under pandemic social restrictions after a year?

Certainly not me!

And now that spring is in the air … Well, at least it is in the northern hemisphere. Would that be called “Up Yonder,” as opposed to “Down Under”? … Anyway, whatever you call it, everyone is getting antsy. We’re all ready to be set free, whenever our governments give in.

To help your family keep busy through the final (we hope!) lockdowns, my publisher is offering a 30% discount coupon on everything at our Tabletop Academy Press online store.

That includes all my math books and playful activity guides, plus my daughter’s fantasy fiction epic, The Riddled Stone.

Enter STAYSAFE2021 at checkout.
(Expires March 31, 2021.)

Shop Now

Prealgebra & Geometry Games Now Available

Posted on February 23, 2021February 23, 2021 by Denise Gaskins

Publication Day!

Prealgebra & Geometry: Math Games for Middle School hits the online bookstores today.

Check Your Favorite Store

You can prepare your children for high school math by playing with positive and negative integers, number properties, mixed operations, algebraic functions, coordinate geometry, and more. Prealgebra & Geometry features 41 kid-tested games, offering a variety of challenges for students in 4–9th grades and beyond.

A true understanding of mathematics requires more than the ability to memorize procedures. This book helps your children learn to think mathematically, giving them a strong foundation for future learning.

And don’t worry if you’ve forgotten all the math you learned in school. I’ve included plenty of definitions and explanations throughout the book. It’s like having a painless math refresher course as you play.

Continue reading Prealgebra & Geometry Games Now Available

Math Puzzle from the Ancient Kingdom of Cats

Posted on February 12, 2021May 25, 2021 by Denise Gaskins

It may look like Cimorene has lain down on the job, but don’t be fooled! She’s hard at work, creating a math investigation for your students to explore.

Cats know how important it can be for students to experiment with math and try new things. Playing with ideas is how kittens (and humans!) learn.

Cimorene wants you to know that the Make 100 Math Rebels Kickstarter offers a great way for human children to learn math through play. She encourages you to go watch the video and read all about the project:

Make 100 Math Rebels Kickstarter

Too often, school math can seem stiff and rigid. To children, it can feel like “Do what I say, whether it makes sense or not.” But cats know that kids are like kittens — they can make sense of ideas just fine if we give them time to play around.