Math Game Monday: Decimal Product Game

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

This game builds understanding of decimals, and also of the inverse relationship between multiplication and division.

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!

Decimal Product Game

Math Concepts: multiplying decimals, decimal place value.

Players: two players or two teams.

Equipment: printed game board, colored markers or a set of matching tokens for each player, two paperclips or other small tokens to mark the factors.

Continue reading Math Game Monday: Decimal Product Game

Math Game Monday: Bowling

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

This game builds calculations skills and helps develop fluency.

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!

Bowling

Math Concepts: addition, subtraction, multistep calculation, column addition (for final score).

Players: any number.

Equipment: one deck of math cards, game board, ten tokens for covering numbers, pencil or pen, and (optional) scratch paper for adding up the scores.

Continue reading Math Game Monday: Bowling

Column Jumping: An Investigation

Posted on by Denise Gaskins
man jumping on rock columns

Charlotte Mason's Living Math ebook editionIn my new book, Charlotte Mason’s Living Math, I encourage families to explore the world of math by asking big, open-ended questions.

[Now available exclusively in my Playful Math Store! Ebook only at the moment, but print editions are coming soon.]

Here’s an example of such a question, an excerpt from my earlier book, 70+ Things To Do with a Hundred Chart: Number, Shape, and Logic Activities from Preschool to Middle School.

Have fun exploring math with your kids!

Continue reading Column Jumping: An Investigation

FAQ: Doing Math His Own Way

Posted on by Denise Gaskins
FAQ learning subtraction math

Isn’t it fun when children surprise us with their understanding?

All my children have figured out ways to do things in math that I would never have expected, and I’ve learned quite a bit from listening to their explanations.

But what if the child’s creative method makes it hard for them to learn what our textbook wants to teach?

Continue reading FAQ: Doing Math His Own Way

Tasty Treats from the Moscow Puzzles

Posted on by Denise Gaskins
basket of apples

“Problems stressing deduction rather than calculation have a special appeal and value. They teach you to analyze, and to seek unorthodox ways of solving a problem.”

—Boris Kordemsky

Today I’m sharing a few treats from The Moscow Puzzles by Boris Kordemsky, which mixes classic brainteasers and original stumpers.

Recreational math expert Martin Gardner called Kordemsky’s book “the outstanding puzzle collection in the history of Russian mathematics.”

Have fun playing logic with your kids!

Continue reading Tasty Treats from the Moscow Puzzles

Math Prompt: True-False-True

Posted on by Denise Gaskins
girl writing in a notebook, sitting on couch with her corgi

Book, Charlotte Mason's Living MathOne of the stretch goals for my Charlotte Mason’s Living Math Kickstarter campaign is to add a math journaling prompt to the end of each chapter. So, I’ve been playing around with ideas to get readers writing.

Since the book’s all about how to build mathematical reasoning, I’m looking for ways to prompt creative thinking and flexibility in math calculations.

Check Out the Kickstarter

I found some fun ideas in Guy Gattegno and Martin Hoffman’s Handbook of Activities for the Teaching of Mathematics (which you can download here), including the following riff off a puzzle created by Lewis Carroll.

Continue reading Math Prompt: True-False-True

What Is Math Game Monday?

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

There’s a new Math Game Monday this week.

Have your kids tried it yet?

This week’s game is one of my favorites for upper-elementary and middle school students, offering plenty of practice doing estimation and mental math with fractions. Or you might prefer last week’s game, featuring a classic two-player logic puzzle that develops strategic reasoning.

Or, if you’re reading this post later and missed those, there’s another great new game this week for you to play.

Check it out:

Visit Math Game Monday

Continue reading What Is Math Game Monday?

Musings: Math is Communication

Posted on by Denise Gaskins
Young boy writing math expressions

The question came up on a homeschool math forum:

“My first grader and I were playing with equivalent expressions. We were trying to see how many ways we could write the value ‘3.’

    “He wrote down 10 – 2 × 3 + 1.

      “When I tried to explain the problem with his calculation, he got frustrated and didn’t want to do math.

        “How can I help him understand order of operations?”

        [If you think this sounds like too complex of a math expression for a first grader, you may want to read my blog post about math manipulatives and big ideas.]

        Order of operations doesn’t matter in this instance. What matters is communication.

        The mother didn’t know how to read what her son wrote.

        He could help her understand by putting parentheses around the part he wanted her to read first.

        He doesn’t need to know abstract rules for arbitrary calculations, or all the different ways we might possibly misunderstand each other. He just needs to know how to say what is in his mind.

        Continue reading Musings: Math is Communication

        Mental Math: Advanced Subtraction

        Posted on by Denise Gaskins
        mother and daughter talking about math homework

        As our children grow and develop their math skills, the mental math strategies grow with them.

        The basics of mental math don’t change:

        • Use friendly numbers.
        • Estimate and adjust the answer.

        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…

        Continue reading Mental Math: Advanced Subtraction

        Mental Math: Advanced Addition

        Posted on by Denise Gaskins
        photo of kids having fun with math

        Mental math is doing calculations with our minds, and perhaps with the aid of scratch paper or a whiteboard to jot down notes along the way.

        But we cannot simply transfer the standard pencil-and-paper calculations to a mental chalkboard. That’s far too complicated.

        We still want to follow our basic strategies of using friendly numbers, estimating, and adjusting the answer. So how can we help children do math in their heads as the numbers get bigger and the problems more challenging?

        How might kids figure out a multi-digit addition like 87 + 39?

        Here are three useful strategies…

        Continue reading Mental Math: Advanced Addition