Math Games for the Holidays

Posted on by Denise Gaskins
Snowman Drive math party game

Are you looking for fun ways to keep your children busy (and learning!) through the holidays? Here are two printable activity guides you might enjoy:

Snowman Drive

Snowman Drive math game book(My newest game activity.)

Players roll the dice and build their creative snowman (or snowbeast). Will you make a fearless pirate or a dapper aristocrat — or a high-scoring snow spider?

A Snowman Drive is a family-friendly party that can also serve as a fundraiser for your church, homeschool group, or organization. The Drive consists of several rounds of the Snowman Game played on a single worksheet, with prizes for the top-scoring players and overall champion.

This activity book includes game instructions and gameboard pages for single-family or group play.

For ages 5 and up.

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Download a PDF preview file.
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FORMAT: 13-page printable PDF file with your choice of 8.5″×11″ (letter size) or A4 pages.

Buy Now

Christmas Tree Math Games

Christmas Tree Math Games book(Number play on a triangular hundred chart.)

Christmas Tree Math Games features 4 easy-to-learn games and 6 additional activities for primary and middle-grade students. All you need is a set of dice and a few colorful markers.

Math games build mental flexibility and strategic reasoning in players of all ages. And even people who hated math in school can enjoy the friendly challenge of a game.

These are NOT the typical memory-and-speed-based math games you’ve probably seen online, but true battles of wit and skill (plus a bit of luck).

Perfect ice-breakers for family gatherings, classroom warmups, or for launching a group game night. You’ll be surprised how much fun thinking hard can be!

Christmas Tree Math Games includes instructions and tips for the teacher, math game pages for handouts or learning centers, plus a variety of dot-grid journaling paper.

For ages 6 and up.

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Download a PDF preview file.
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FORMAT: 30-page printable PDF file with your choice of 8.5″×11″ (letter size) or A4 pages.

Buy Now

 
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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.

“Math Games for the Holidays” copyright © 2024 by Denise Gaskins. Image at the top of the post copyright © prarinya / Depositphotos.

Gratis Games and Playful Math News

Posted on by Denise Gaskins

Get your free copy today!
Do you want to help your children learn math?

Teach them to play.

Grab a free copy of my Let’s Play Math Sampler: 10 Family-Favorite Games for Learning Math Through Play, which contains short excerpts from my most popular titles. It’s a great way to get started with playful math. 😍

As a bonus, I’ll add you to my Playful Math News email subscription and send you monthly tips and activity ideas for playing math with your kids.

From time to time, I’ll even throw in a free sample of whatever I’ve been working on — an early draft of something that will eventually show up in one of my books or printable activity guides.

For example, check out this fun freebie I sent last April:

Don’t miss out on all this mathy goodness. Sign up today!

Get the Games Book Now

The Rhythm of Math Games

Posted on by Denise Gaskins
Family math game night

The art of homeschooling math begins with the rhythm of puzzle play. It continues with games, which are social puzzles.

Games are fun, building a positive attitude toward math. They give students a refreshing break from textbook work and make kids willing to practice their math.

But more important than the fun, math games push children to think about what numbers mean and how they work. A good math game reinforces the idea that math is about reasoning, using the things you know to figure out what you need.

For more about homeschooling with math games, check out my post Gameschooling Math.

Continue reading The Rhythm of Math Games

Limited Time: A New Set of History Strategy Games

Posted on by Denise Gaskins
Wiki Histories strategy game

There’s just one short week left to go on Gordon Hamilton’s new Kickstarter project, Wiki Histories: Snapshots of world history in mini-games.

Sign up now so you don’t miss out!

Wiki Histories are two-player snapshots of world history and prehistory. They are pencil-and-paper games. Each has a pair of maps, a simple set of standard rules, some unique rules, and a historical paragraph.

    Time: 15 minutes. Age: 9+.

    Back the Kickstarter Now

    Celebrating Spring with Playful Math Carnival 172

    Posted on by Denise Gaskins
    Playful Math Carnival 172

    Welcome to the 172nd edition of the Playful Math Blog Carnival, a buffet 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.

    The carnival went on hiatus for a couple of months due to unexpected life issues facing our volunteer hosts. But we’re back now, and ready to celebrate!

    By tradition, we start the carnival with a puzzle in honor of our 172nd edition. But if you’d rather jump straight to our featured blog posts, click here for the Table of Contents.

    Try This: Lazy Caterers and Clock-Binary Numbers

    172 is a lazy caterer number: Imaging a caterer who brought a single large pie to serve the whole party. He needs to cut it into as many pieces as he can, using the fewest (straight) cuts he can get away with.

    • If each guest gets one piece of pie, what sizes of parties (numbers of people) can the lazy caterer serve?
    • Can you find a pattern in the lazy caterer sequence?

    But for those of you who have followed the carnival for years, you may remember we played with the lazy caterer back in Playful Math 106. (That time, the caterer was serving pizza.) So here’s a bonus activity we’ve never done before…

    The first several stages of a pattern are as follows:

    Clock Binary pattern image

    • What do you notice about this pattern of shapes?
    • What is the next shape in the sequence?
    • Can you figure out how the shape below fits into the pattern?

    Clock Binary puzzle image

    This pattern sequence was named clock binary by its creator, noelements-setempty.

    • What questions can you ask about this sequence?
    • How are these shapes like the binary numbers?
    • How are they different?

    Click here for all the mathy goodness!

    Math Games Kickstarter: It Keeps Getting Better

    Posted on by Denise Gaskins
    Friends playing math games

    Did you know that, with our recent stretch goals, the Tabletop Math Games Kickstarter now features more than 90 amazing ways to play math with your kids?

    And every pledge pushes us closer to the next new bonus, which means more new games and playful math goodies for every backer.

    Don’t miss out on the excitement. Order your copy today:

    Visit the Math Games Kickstarter ❱

    How Are These Books Different?

    I love how the challenge of a well-fought math game pushes players of all ages to think more creatively and build fluency.

    So my Tabletop Math Games Collection is designed to make it easier than ever for busy families and over-stressed teachers to play with math.

    All you need are common household supplies like cards, dice, and scratch paper. Children can open a Tabletop Math Games Collection book to any page and start playing right away, and the digital files make great classroom handouts or learning center games.

    Continue reading Math Games Kickstarter: It Keeps Getting Better

    What’s So Special About Math Games?

    Posted on by Denise Gaskins
    Family playing math game with dominoes

    To everyone who has supported my Tabletop Math Games Collection Kickstarter project: thank you ever so much! We’ve blown past our funding target and made it into Stretch Goal territory.

    Now every pledge just makes the project better, earning new games and bonuses for every backer at the $5 level and above.

    If you haven’t backed the project yet, check out what you’re missing:

    Visit the Kickstarter ❯

    Math games build mental flexibility and strategic reasoning in players of all ages. And even people who hated math in school can enjoy the friendly challenge of a game.

    I love how the challenge of a well-fought math game pushes players of all ages to think more creatively and build fluency.

    Continue reading What’s So Special About Math Games?

    Tabletop Math Games Kickstarter: Order Your Copy Today

    Posted on by Denise Gaskins
    Friends playing math games

    And so it begins: the Tabletop Math Games Collection is LIVE on Kickstarter!

    Check It Out ❯

    To have a successful campaign, we need plenty of people to back the project early. The more supporters we get in these early days, the more likely the Kickstarter platform folks will help spread the news for us.

    To give you a feel for the Tabletop Math Games Collection books, I’ve put together a free printable sampler file, with 4 ready-to-play card games you can enjoy today.

    I think you’ll love it!

    Download the Sample File ❯

    Kickstarter Sample Games Download

    Continue reading Tabletop Math Games Kickstarter: Order Your Copy Today

    Coming Soon: The Tabletop Math Games Collection, Volume Two

    Posted on by Denise Gaskins
    Family playing math games, with book by Denise Gaskins

    Coming Soon! On March 11, I’ll be launching the next installment in my new book series, the Tabletop Math Games Collection.

    And the Kickstarter prelaunch page is now live. That means you can sign up to get an email from Kickstarter as soon as the campaign launches:

    Visit the Prelaunch Page ❯

    (Yes, if you missed last year’s Kickstarter, you’ll also be able to get Volume One.)

    Test Out Four Free Sample Games

    Math games build mental flexibility and strategic reasoning in players of all ages. And even people who hated math in school can enjoy the friendly challenge of a game.

    I’ve put together a free printable sampler file, with four ready-to-play card games you can enjoy today.

    I think you’ll love it!

    Download the Sample File ❯

    Continue reading Coming Soon: The Tabletop Math Games Collection, Volume Two

    Playful Math Education Carnival 171: Modern Math Artists

    Posted on by Denise Gaskins

    Welcome to the 171st 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 over the next week or so.

    There’s so much playful math to enjoy!

    By tradition, we start the carnival with a puzzle/activity in honor of our 171st edition. But if you’d rather jump straight to our featured blog posts, click here to see the Table of Contents.

    Try This Puzzle/Activity

    171 is a triangular number, the sum of all the numbers from 1 to 18:

    • 1 + 2 + 3 + … + 17 + 18 = 171.
    • Can you think why a number like this is called “triangular”?
    • What other triangular numbers can you find?

    Also, 171 is a palindrome number, with the same digits forward and backward. It’s also a palindrome of powers:

    • 171 = 52 + 112 + 52
    • 171 = 23 + 43 + 33 + 43 + 23

    So in honor of our 171st Playful Math Carnival, here is a palindrome puzzle that leads to an unsolved question in math:

    • Does every number turn into a palindrome eventually?

    palindrome number activity

    Click here for all the mathy goodness!