NEW ⬆️ My family is very into puzzle solving so this Turing Machine Punch Card Computer strategy and deduction game will be under our tree this year. It’s described as “a fascinating little puzzle game that feels like Sudoku dialed up to 11″ and has high ratings. Plus: Cracking codes? An analog computer? Punch cards? Potentially 7,000,000 problems to solve? And it’s award-winning? I’m in.
I played with my spirograph constantly as a kid. My kids—screen-free at the time—drew these iconic mathematical patterns for years, too, so I highly recommended this precision anniversary edition in a collector’s tin for ages 8+. Put on a podcast, place a pen in position, and spin the drawing disk for calm and classic afternoon.
NEW ⬆️ My grandma used to say that she wasn’t a math person, and all through school, I carried that with me, too. It wasn’t until I practiced math regularly for work that a switch flipped for me. So when my kids were little, I made it my goal to give them the math confidence that comes with familiarity and fun, the reminders that math takes practice and patience, and the awareness of how we used math in our daily lives. It’s everywhere!
I love that this book points that out, too. Bite-size info, illustration-filled, practical yet illuminating. One of the many math resources I’ve collected so that we can all help make math familiar and fun for our kids.
I have a favorite mathematician thanks to these videos and a radio interview I listened to. And she wrote a book! Eugenia Cheng’s Molly and the Mathematical Mysteries shares ten math adventures for ages 7-10 that go beyond numbers. Ask for it at your local bookstore.
Octopuses Have Zero Bones, there is one star in our solar system, peanut shells usually have two nuts inside, sloths have three toes on each foot, and a black bear’s heart beats 3000 times an hour through much of the year… Think about numbers in entirely new ways with this fantastic new counting picture book about our world. A new favorite.
Animals that count. Strange shapes. Weird measurements. Paradoxes. Probabilities. Puzzles. Math in art, architecture, music, in the garden, and in other dimensions. PBL math curriculum expert and author Anna Weltman described The Book of Math: Adventures in the World of Shapes and Numbers as a book for kids (ages 7+) “who love gobs and gobs of info.” I’d add that grown ups will enjoy reading through it, too. With illustrations by Paul Boston, this book is excellent for revealing how much math permeates every facet of our daily lives.
I bought this book from our local indie bookstore and haven’t been able to reliably find it online. Check in with your local shop or try the two links below.
I had no idea how much information What’s the Point of Math? would have. I thought it might explain some things—telling time, navigating the earth, making music, growing crops, designing and building, keeping track of money, computing—but this book goes all in with more: specific “how to” pages that illuminate math history and demonstrate all sorts of core math concepts in really interesting and relevant ways. Illustrations and short explainers make everything easy to understand.
I highly recommend this book, one of many tools that can help make math more fun and familiar for kids (and adults). We bought the British version (What’s the Point of Maths?) to ensure metric first text.
⭐️ AWARD-WINNER ⭐️ Proof: The Fast-Paced Game of Mental Math Magic is an award-winner (the 2019 Teacher’s Choice Awards) and I saw why within one minute: My kids started playing the card game’s similar online challenges and were immediately hooked. An amazing tool for the classroom. But like doing a crossword puzzle or sudoku, Proof is also a legit game for adults—fun and challenging with kids or without.
Lay 9 cards out in a grid and race to find the hidden equations using addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and square roots. Prove the equation? Take the card. The player with the most cards wins.
I love finding fun math games that keep my kids connected with numbers. This is absolutely going under our tree this year.
🔥POPULAR 🔥 This is one of those books that I bought within a minute or two of perusing its pages. Another gem from Wide Eyed Books, The School of Numbers presents key math concepts through the lens of an intergalactic journey. Shapes, fractions, percentages, graphs and charts, temperatures, statistics, time, speed, maps, prime numbers, and more are covered in 40 engaging lessons. A bit of history, practical (space-themed) applications, and activities are mixed in, too.
Clear, smart, and full of play for ages 7+. Also: Sneaky shortcuts, number tricks, and robots. Math = fun. Yes, yes, yes.
Make math fun! And include it throughout the day whenever you can. These can help kids feel more comfortable and confident with numbers. This award-winning Simple Math Bingo game can help with that thanks to these mental math-filled addition and subtraction boards. And the animal illustrations add to the fun and charm. Find it at Amazon or get it directly from woman-owned/mother-run Eeboo.
“Adding to 20, 21, 23, or 24 has never been so challenging! Danish Solitaire has simple instructions - arrange the numbered pegs so the three diamonds and middle line all add up to the same number.“
I love leaving puzzles like this out on the coffee table for the kids to come back to over and over again. This one comes from the National Museum of Mathematics in New York.
We’ve had this Safecracker 50 puzzle on shelves and tables around the house for years. The kids pick it up and try in earnest to figure it out now and then. They’ll talk about it and ask for the solution. I’ve yet to give it to them. Or me. I haven’t solve it yet either. The puzzle is becoming legendary around the house.
The goal: “Crack the safe” by getting each of the 16 number columns to each add to 50 at the same time. There’s only one solution and it’s a bit tough! A gem of a puzzle for puzzle enthusiasts or that special someone who solves everything.
There’s also a slightly easier Safecracker 40 puzzle. Both are crafted in the USA by Creative Crafthouse, who has lots of amazing gifts to choose from.
I absolutely love Count on Me, a smart picture book by Miguel Tanco. In it, a young girl describes her passion for math: “Math is all around us. It’s often hidden, and I love finding it.“ She finds it in playgrounds, in trees, in the concentric circles that a rock makes on the surface of a pond, in flying paper airplanes…
“Everyone has a passion. For some, it’s music. For others, it’s art. For our heroine, it’s math… There are infinite ways to see the world. And through math is one of them.” I wish we’d had this one when my kids were very small. This illuminating book should be read early and often. An instant classic.
NEW ⬆️ Genius Square is both a puzzle and a game. It has over 60,000 solutions yet it’s really simple and easy to learn. Roll the coordinate dice, place the round blockers on the grid, and then figure out how the Tetris-style wood pieces fit. THEY ALWAYS FIT. It just might be a challenge to figure out how.
Race each other or play solo. A problem-solving skill-builder for all ages. Look for it in your local game shop.
I became a bit obsessed with Hagoromo Fulltouch Chalk after watching a video about how it’s the chalk mathematicians adore. Hard-to-get Japanese chalk with a fanbase? Chalk worth stockpiling and rationing? “The chalk of champions?” Why? It’s dustless and it “writes as smoothly as butter.” As someone who had a chalkboard wall and a toddler at the same time, I am all about dustless chalk.
Then, after 80 years, Hagoromo closed up shop.
Luckily, 2 of Hagoromo’s 3 original machines were bought by South Korea’s Sejongmall. They now produce the original formula under Japanese Industrial Standards and it’s highly-rated on Amazon. Get it in white and a rainbow of bright colors.
