Math Game Monday: Concentration with Math Model Cards

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

This game lays a great foundation for your child’s understanding of multiplication and fractions.

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!

Concentration with Math Model Cards

Math Concepts: multiplication or fraction models, visual/spatial memory.

Players: any number.

Equipment: one deck of math model cards.

Continue reading Math Game Monday: Concentration with Math Model Cards

Playful Math 184: Carnival of Living Math

Posted on by Denise Gaskins
Playful Math Carnival 184

Welcome to the 184th 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.

With all the links, a blog carnival can feel overwhelming. Bookmark this article, so you can take your time reading the posts.

“Living math” means bringing our children face-to-face with the big ideas of mathematics to help them develop their reasoning skills. When the ideas of math come to life for our children, their minds delight in seeing how numbers and shapes connect to each other and exploring these relationships.

Scattered between the playful math links below, you’ll find quotations from my new book Charlotte Mason’s Living Math, along with several paintings of children playing and learning which I considered for the book but ran out of room.

“The lesson” by Rafael Frederico, 1895.

By tradition, we start the carnival with a puzzle/activity in honor of our 184th 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 184: Carnival of Living Math

Math Game Monday: Dinosaur Race

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

This game helps preschool children develop counting and number sense.

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!

Dinosaur Race

Math Concepts: number symbols, counting beyond ten, number line.

Players: any number.

Equipment: subitizing cards, number line racetrack, small plastic dinosaur or other toy for each player.

Continue reading Math Game Monday: Dinosaur Race

Math Game Monday: Prism Power

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

This game encourages players to reason about the relationships between length dimensions and volume in a 3-D shape.

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!

Prism Power

Math Concepts: rectangular volume, cubic units.

Players: two or more.

Equipment: printed gameboard or plain paper, pencils or markers, one six-sided die, 40–50 cubic blocks per player.

Continue reading Math Game Monday: Prism Power

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?

Playing to Learn

Posted on by Denise Gaskins
quotation from Dan Finkel

“Play and rigor support each other.

    “When students are invited to play with math, they learn more deeply, more robustly, and remember more consistently.

      “Play is promoted as something that can engage kids and give them a more positive attitude about school, but it’s easy to assume that it’s not useful for learning, when in reality the opposite is true:

        “The student who is playing tends to be the student who is learning most deeply.”

        —Dan Finkel, Math for Love newsletter

        Playful Math for the Summer

        Posted on by Denise Gaskins
        playful dog at the beach

        I continue to dig myself out of the avalanche of tasks that built up during the years that I spent mostly down south with my mom as she was weakening.

        But here are two tidbits of mathy fun that came across my desk recently, which I think you’ll enjoy…

        Numberhive Place Value

        I think I’ve mentioned before how much I love the Numberhive game. They recently posted a series of print-and-play freebies for their new place value variation.

        DiceCulus Core Game — Mini PnP

        This cool-looking game is in prelaunch on the crowdfunding site Gamefound, but the creator has posted a free Mini Print & Play version you can download now, suitable for prealgebra and up. (The full game will have multiple variations, including a preschool level.)

        Math Journaling and Games

        Finally, the Math Journaling Adventures books and kids’ gear are now live in my store, and all my math game books are still on sale through the month of June.

        Have fun playing math with your kids!

         
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        Are you looking for more creative ways to play math with your kids? Join my free 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.

        “Playful Math for the Summer” copyright © 2025 by Denise Gaskins. Image at the top of the post copyright © damedeeso / Depositphotos.

        Podcast: Using Math Journals and Games

        Posted on by Denise Gaskins
        mother and daughter math journaling

        I have a new podcast interview, and I think you’ll enjoy it!

        Check out Cindy Rollins’s The New Mason Jar on your favorite podcast app, or listen on the website:

        Go to the podcast ❱

        Here’s an excerpt…

        Writing to Learn

        Just as a nature journal records our children’s explorations and discoveries in nature, so a math journal tracks our children’s explorations in the world of mathematics.

          In a math journal, children record their experiences with numbers, shapes, and patterns through drawing or writing. Journaling teaches them to see with mathematical eyes — not just to remember what we adults tell them, but to create their own math.

            The process of writing forces children to pin down their thoughts, to transform nebulous concepts into firm ideas, to struggle with vagueness and build understanding.

              As William Zinsser says in his book Writing to Learn: “Writing is how we think our way into a subject and make it our own. Writing enables us to find out what we know, and what we don’t know.”

                Through journaling, children develop a richer mathematical mindset. They begin to see connections and grow confident in their ability to think through new problems.

                We had a great discussion! Listen to the whole thing:

                Go to the podcast ❱

                 
                * * *

                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 free 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.

                “Podcast: Using Math Journals and Games” copyright © 2025 by Denise Gaskins. Image at the top of the post copyright © AntonLozovoy / Depositphotos.

                Math Journal: Three Quick Number Games

                Posted on by Denise Gaskins
                photo of family playing a dice game

                Math Journaling Adventures Kickstarter projectHere are three quick math games you can fit in whenever you have a few minutes’ free time. Have fun playing math with your kids!

                And if you enjoy these games, check out my Math Journaling Adventures project to discover how similar playful writing activities can help your students learn mathematics. Preorder your books today!

                Continue reading Math Journal: Three Quick Number Games