This simple counting game helps children grow comfortable with 2-digit numbers and learn the value of coins.
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.
Math Concepts: counting, addition, coin value.
Players: two or more.
Equipment: printed hundred charts, six-sided dice, and a large pile of assorted coins.
Writing to Learn Math: Writing helps students stretch their thinking and make sense of new ideas.
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.
Ever since the school year started, I’ve been getting questions about how to use my new Math Journaling Adventures logbooks.
[SIDE NOTE: These logbooks are included in this month’s Thanksgiving Sale! You’ll get an automatic 10% discount off all print books, applied at checkout, no special code required.]
“I love the way your math books get my children thinking.
“Finally, they are having fun with math!
“But sometimes I have no idea what the journaling prompt is all about or how to teach it. Where can I buy a solutions manual?”
Um, that’s not how math journals work.
The cool thing about journaling prompts is that they have no “right” answer. They are explorations into different parts of the world of math, nature walks in the land of numbers, shapes, and patterns. Springboards into whatever our children want to investigate, whatever sparks their interest.
A few of the problem-solving prompts may have specific answers, but it really doesn’t matter if our kids find the exact solution a math professional might give. If they write what makes sense to them, they’ve accomplished the goal.
If later, they think of something they hadn’t noticed, or they want to change their answer — well, that is mathematical thinking, too.
This game is simple to learn, allowing kids to focus on their strategic thinking. Then ask your students to invent their own tic-tac-toe variation.
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.
Math Concepts: Logic and strategic thinking.
Players: only two.
Equipment: pen and paper.
Writing to Learn Math: At its heart, geometry is all about seeing connections and relationships.
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.
This game gives young children practice adding numbers within twenty. And it’s great strategic fun for all ages!
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.
Math Concepts: addition to twenty, thinking ahead.
Players: two or more.
Equipment: two decks of playing cards (face cards removed), six tokens per player.
As our children grow and develop their math skills, the mental math strategies grow with them.
The basics of mental math don’t change:
But we have new ways to help children do math in their heads as the numbers get bigger and the problems more challenging.
For example, how might kids figure out a multi-digit subtraction like 67 − 38?
First, we need to adjust our mindset…
I’ve been updating my old book files to a new publishing program, and in the process discovering anew how often websites change and disappear. So frustrating!
Thankfully, the Internet Archive keeps some things that we can look back at. It doesn’t always work, but today it came to the rescue and let me recover the wonderful workbook from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Islamic Art And Geometric Design, plus some of the pattern pages at the old School of Islamic Geometric Design.
I reference these pages in my Geometric Coloring Designs series (available at my Playful Math Store), so I was glad to find they weren’t lost forever.
Math Art = a great way to spark energy when your students hit the mathematical doldrums.
If you’d like to play around with math art patterns, each image below links to Eric Broug’s step-by-step instructions for creating the design. Also, Broug made printable pages to get students started, which you can download here. No compass construction required!
There are two more patterns on the old SIGD site, but I can’t get those instructions to load. That might be my antique rural internet connection, however, so feel free to do some exploring on your own.
And have fun drawing math with your kids!
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Are you looking for more creative ways to play math with your kids? Check out all my books, printable activities, and cool mathy merch at Denise Gaskins’ Playful Math Store. Or join my email newsletter.
This blog is reader-supported. If you’d like to help fund the blog on an on-going basis, then please join me on Patreon for mathy inspiration, tips, and an ever-growing archive of printable activities.
“Geometric Math Art, Recovered” copyright © 2025 by Denise Gaskins. Image at the top of the post copyright © Denise Gaskins.
“The true joy in mathematics, the true hook that compels mathematicians to devote their careers to the subject, comes from a sense of boundless wonder induced by the subject.
“There is transcendental beauty, there are deep and intriguing connections, there are surprises and rewards, and there is play and creativity.
“Mathematics has very little to do with crunching numbers. Mathematics is a landscape of ideas and wonders.”
—James Tanton
James Tanton has a new website. It looks cool, and it’s a great place to discover the things he’s working on these days.
But his wonderful, old-fashioned site full of great insights and interesting problems is gone.
😞 I hate it when some part of the internet that I love disappears. So here’s my attempt to recover one tiny bit of the old site, five tips for creative problem solving through intellectual play.
Hey, look! A new book from the folks at Natural Math, now on Kickstarter:
Experience a whimsical puzzle hunt in a new fantastic world full of friendship and surprises, from the authors of Funville Adventures.
When human siblings Emmy and Leo find themselves magically transported to Modultown, they make new friends and combine their different perspectives to solve challenges that flesh out the mechanics of modular arithmetic.
Playing in Modultown unlocks pathways into number theory, computer science, genetics, and other essential modern fields.
NOTE: If you haven’t explored Kickstarter before, it’s a wonderful place to discover new books and products from creators around the world.
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.
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Images copyright ©2025 Natural Math.
Denise Gaskins' Let's Play Math 