Journaling – Page 2 – Denise Gaskins' Let's Play Math

Morning Coffee: Anyone Can Learn Math

Posted on April 2, 2025February 24, 2025 by Denise Gaskins

Morning Coffee Lifelong Learning for Parents

One of the best ways we can help our children learn mathematics (or anything else) is to be lifelong learners ourselves.

Here are a few stories to read as you sip your morning brew:

Download your printable Morning Coffee journal.

Once again, my rabbit hole started with a thought-provoking blog post from Dan Finkel…

“Not everyone can become a great artist — but a great artist can come from anywhere.”
—Ego, from Ratatouille

“Ego’s parsing of the phrase anyone can cook is not obvious, and it’s not really the primary meaning of the phrase. The truth is, there are really three meanings all wrapped up there: anyone can learn to have the joy and pleasure of cooking in their life, even if they don’t become a master chef. Some people will get serious about it. And the visionaries who change the way we think about the art can come from anywhere — lock them out of the field and we all suffer.”
—Dan Finkel

Read more about how anyone can learn math in this third installment of professional development for homeschooling parents.

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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.

“Morning Coffee: Anyone Can Learn Math” copyright © 2025 by Denise Gaskins. Image at the top of post copyright © Kira auf der Heide / Unsplash.

Math Journal: The 1-2-3 Puzzle

Posted on March 26, 2025February 24, 2025 by Denise Gaskins

There’s still time to check out my Math Journaling Adventures project and discover how playful writing activities will help your students learn mathematics. Preorder your books today!

Meanwhile, here’s a math puzzle to share with your kids…

Write down any whole number. It can be a single-digit number, or as big as you like. For example:

64,861,287,124,425,928

Now, count up the number of even digits (including zeros), the number of odd digits, and the total number of digits your number contains. Write those counted numbers down in order, like this:

64,861,287,124,425,928
even 12, odd 5, total 17

Continue reading Math Journal: The 1-2-3 Puzzle

Only Two Days Left for Math Journaling Adventures

Posted on March 25, 2025July 12, 2025 by Denise Gaskins

Math Journaling Adventures series by Denise Gaskins

If you’re a parent trying to help your child learn math…
Or a teacher looking for creative ideas for your classroom…
Or a homeschooling parent hoping to enrich your student’s understanding…

Then you’ll love the Math Journaling Adventures series because these logbooks guide your children to explore mathematics at a deeper level, building a strong foundation to support future learning.

It’s a fun way to enrich any math curriculum, and great for unschoolers, too.

But you have to ACT FAST: The Kickstarter campaign ends in 2 days!

Order Your Copy Today ❯

Continue reading Only Two Days Left for Math Journaling Adventures

Podcast: Using Math Journals and Games

Posted on March 21, 2025March 18, 2025 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 March 19, 2025February 24, 2025 by Denise Gaskins

Here 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

Math Journal: Playing with My Own Ignorance

Posted on March 12, 2025February 24, 2025 by Denise Gaskins

Mary Everest Boole, wife of English mathematician George Boole, once described algebra as “thinking logically about the fact of our own ignorance.”

This definition made me chuckle. Like any human being, I am ignorant on many things, but I usually avoid thinking about that.

So I wondered what would happen if I took Mrs. Boole’s advice and tried thinking logically about my ignorance.

How far could I go?

Perhaps you’d like to try this experiment with your children. All you need is a pen and paper or a whiteboard and markers and a bit of curiosity.

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

Continue reading Math Journal: Playing with My Own Ignorance

Morning Coffee: When Math Makes You Feel Stupid

Posted on March 5, 2025February 24, 2025 by Denise Gaskins

One of the best ways we can help our children learn mathematics (or anything else) is to be lifelong learners ourselves.

Here are a few stories to read as you sip your morning brew. . .

Download your printable Morning Coffee journal

This week’s rabbit hole started with a thought-provoking newsletter from Dan Finkel, which led me to his blog…

“Everyone who learns math is familiar with the experience of being stuck on some new idea or problem, banging their head against it, and then, when they finally understand the answer (or having someone tell them), feeling stupid. There’s something fundamental in the nature of mathematics that makes it easy once you get it, and impossible before.

“These jumps in comprehension can be thrilling, and they’re one reason math is so fun. But they do create a challenge for the student. The evidence that you learned something hard is that you feel like you’re stupid. That stupidity is essential to the process. Students need to know this feeling is the norm when it comes to learning math.”

—Dan Finkel and Katherine Cook, The centrality of stupidity in mathematics

Read more about the value of feeling stupid in this second installment of professional development for homeschooling parents.

* * *

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.

“Morning Coffee: When Math Makes You Feel Stupid” copyright © 2025 by Denise Gaskins. Image at the top of post copyright © Kira auf der Heide / Unsplash.

Why I Love the Math Journaling Adventures Series

Posted on March 4, 2025July 12, 2025 by Denise Gaskins

$Mother and daughter doing homework outdoors$

My Math Journaling Adventures Series is now available on Kickstarter.

I love these books!

Writing is one of the best ways to learn math deeply, because wrestling our thoughts into words forces us to figure out what we really believe.

It’s the natural, no-stress way to build our children’s understanding and confidence.

Hit the button to visit the campaign and order your books:

Math Journaling Adventures Kickstarter ❯

Continue reading Why I Love the Math Journaling Adventures Series

Math Journaling Adventures Launched: Order Your Copy Today

Posted on March 3, 2025March 3, 2025 by Denise Gaskins

Math Journaling Adventures: Creative Logbooks for All Ages

And so it begins: the Math Journaling Adventures is LIVE on Kickstarter!

Check It Out ❯

⭐ Don’t delay! First-day backers get the best deals. Choose one of the Earlybird rewards:

Earlybird 2-Logbook Sets in Digital, Paperback, Spiral-Bound, or Hardcover
Earlybird Everything Bundles in Digital or Paperback

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.

Continue reading Math Journaling Adventures Launched: Order Your Copy Today