Math Game Monday: Domino Fraction War

Posted on by Denise Gaskins

“Domino Fraction War” is free on this website for one week only. It’s an excerpt from Multiplication & Fractions: Math Games for Tough Topics, available as an ebook at my bookstore (Thank you for cutting out the middleman!) and in ebook or paperback through many online retailers. Read more about my playful math books here.

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 upper-elementary and middle school students plenty of practice doing estimation and mental math with fractions.

Domino Fraction War

Math Concepts: proper fractions, comparing fractions.

Players: two or more.

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

Continue reading Math Game Monday: Domino Fraction War

How Will You Celebrate this Epic Twosday?

Posted on by Denise Gaskins

Tomorrow is Tuesday 2/22/22 (or 22/2/22, if you prefer). What a wonderfully epic Twosday!

Here’s a puzzle your family or class may enjoy…

The “All 2s” Challenge

Use only the digit 2, and try to use as few of them as you can for each calculation. You may use any math operations you know.

For example:
0 = 2 − 2
8 = 2 + 2 + 2 + 2

  • Can you find a way to make 8 using fewer than four 2s?
  • What other numbers can you make?
  • Can you calculate all the numbers from 1–20? 1–100?

Putting 2 in Perspective

You might enjoy practicing your math art skills with this 2-digit challenge from Steve Wyborney.

How many blocks make the digit 2? How did you count them?

Playful Math #152: Auld Lang Syne Edition

Posted on by Denise Gaskins

Welcome to the 152nd 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.

Bookmark this post, so you can take your time browsing. There’s so much playful math to enjoy!

We didn’t have a volunteer host for January, so I’m squeezing this in between other commitments. This is my third no-host-emergency carnival in the last year, which is NOT sustainable. If you’d like to help keep the Playful Math Carnival alive, we desperately need hosts for 2022!

By tradition, we start the carnival with a puzzle or activity in honor of our 152nd edition. But if you’d rather jump straight to our featured blog posts, click here to see the Table of Contents.

Math Journaling with Prime Numbers

Cool facts about 152: The eighth prime number is 19, and 8 × 19 = 152. When you square 152, you get a number that contains all the digits from 0–4. You can make 152 as the sum of eight consecutive even numbers, or as the sum of four consecutive prime numbers.

But 152 has two real claims to fame:

  • It’s the smallest number that is the sum of the cubes of two distinct odd primes.
  • And it’s the largest known even number you can write as the sum of two primes in exactly four ways.

So here’s your math investigation prompt:

  • Play around with prime numbers. Explore their powers, their sums, and anything else about them you like.
  • What do you notice? What do you wonder?
  • What’s the most interesting number relationship you can find?

Continue reading Playful Math #152: Auld Lang Syne Edition

Advent Math Activity Calendars

Posted on by Denise Gaskins

Once again, the delightful Nrich Maths website offers a seasonal selection of activities to encourage your children’s (and your own!) mathematical creativity.

Click the images below to visit the corresponding December Math Calendar pages.

For Primary Students

Here are twenty-four activities for elementary and middle school, one for each day in December during the run-up to Christmas.

2021 Primary Advent Calendar

When you get to the Nrich website, click a number to go to that day’s math.

For Secondary Students

Here are twenty-four favorite activities for middle and high school, one for each day in December in the run-up to Christmas.

2021 Secondary Advent Calendar

When you get to the Nrich website, click a number to go to that day’s math.

More Holiday Math

I encourage you also to explore my HUGE holiday math post:

Or check out these pages for more ideas:

Have fun playing math with your kids!

CREDITS: “Peanuts Christmas Panorama” photo [top] by Kevin Dooley via Flicker. (CCBY2.0)

Playful Math Education Carnival 147

Posted on by Denise Gaskins

Welcome to the 147th 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.

Bookmark this post, so you can take your time browsing. There’s so much playful math to enjoy!

By tradition, we start the carnival with a puzzle in honor of our 147th 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 Education Carnival 147

Playful Math Carnival 144: Anniversary Edition

Posted on by Denise Gaskins

Welcome to the 144th 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.

Bookmark this post, so you can take your time browsing.

There’s so much playful math to enjoy!

By tradition, we would start the carnival with a puzzle/activity in honor of our 144th edition. But this time, I want to take a peek back at the history of our carnival.

But if you’d rather jump straight to our featured blog posts, click here to see the Table of Contents.

Continue reading Playful Math Carnival 144: Anniversary Edition

What Is Multiplication, Anyway?

Posted on by Denise Gaskins

At some point during the process of teaching multiplication to our children, we really need to come to terms with this question:

What IS multiplication?

Did your device hide the video? Find it on YouTube here.

“What’s my answer? It’s not one that society’s going to like. Because society expects — demands, even — that mathematics be concrete, real-world, absolute, having definitive answers.

    I can’t give a definitive answer.

      Multiplication manifests itself in different ways. So maybe the word ‘is’ there is just too absolute. And it’s actually at odds with what mathematicians do.

        Mathematicians do attend to real-world, practical scenarios — by stepping away from them, looking at a bigger picture.”

        —James Tanton, What is Multiplication?

        For Further Study

        You may also enjoy these posts from my blog archive:

        Memorizing the Times Table: A Life Skills Approach

        Posted on by Denise Gaskins

        Continuing on my theme of times table facts, here’s the inimitable James Tanton:

        Did your device hide the video? Find it on YouTube here.

        “If our task is to memorize this table, please make it about mathematics — about thinking your way through a challenge, and what can I do to make my life easier.”

        —James Tanton, Making Memorising Multiplication Facts (if one really must) a meaningful Life Skill Lesson

        For Further Study

        You may also enjoy my blog post series about working through the times tables, paying attention to mathematical relationships (and a bit of prealgebra) along the way.

        Times Tables Series

        Click the button to see the whole series. Scroll down to the first post to go through it in order.

        What Are Mixed Numbers?

        Posted on by Denise Gaskins

        I just discovered a fascinating fact: In some places in the world, mixed numbers apparently don’t exist.

        So that made me curious about my blog readers:

        • Did you learn about mixed numbers in school?
        • Do you ever use mixed numbers in daily life?
        • Are your children learning to work with them?

        And if you DO know mixed numbers, can you simplify this mess:

        [If you enjoy dry math humor, the answer is worth the work.]

        Continue reading What Are Mixed Numbers?