Uncommonly Creative Math for Girls
Math circles are vibrant, playful math groups that help girls fall in love with math through patterns and discovery, fun projects, hands-on explorations, and games. We believe girls connect with math the most when they are having fun and experiencing math in real-life contexts. Previous math circle girls have explored math with actual kittens (I’m a kitten foster mom), or by creating and selling chocolates from their own imaginary chocolate shop.
She’s just five minutes into playing the Numbaroll place value game, and she feels like she’s just won the lottery. She turns over her last card, throws her hands dramatically in the air and yells: “Three MILLION, four hundred fifty-six THOUSAND, two hundred twenty-nine! Oh yeah! Oh yeah!” “Hey mom! I just won THREE MILLION points!”Reading and writing big numbers is one of those things adults think is easy, but is tricky
Helping your child learn times tables can feel utterly overwhelming. I just got this message from a parent today. Sound familiar? Yeah. It sucks…and your child is just as frustrated as you are. I hate to break it to you, but she’s got 144 of the little buggers to memorize. A HUNDRED AND FORTY FOUR. How does a parent even begin? Flash cards? Pop quizzes at the dinner table? If
Your girl’s math superpower is her unique blend of strengths, skills, interests, and inclinations that determine how she learns best. We often teach math in just one way. When that way doesn’t work for girls, it doesn’t mean she’s bad at math…she just needs to learn it differently. Her “math superpower” is her way of thinking and making sense of math. It’s how her brain works. When she’s able to
Your girls are going to love this math bingo game sooooo much! I was amazed by how popular this game was with kids, right out of the gate. Girls were literally jumping out of their seats with excitement as they called out complicated math equations. To be clear, these were the same girls who’d had a rather cringing relationship with math just a few months before. One very polite little
Your beautiful, gap-toothed 6-year-old daughter comes home crying from school one day, saying she’s bad at math. She’s only 6 years old! She’s barely been in school long enough to know what math even is, and already she’s decided she’s bad at it? How is that even possible?! 4th-5th grade used to be the danger age for girls deciding they’re bad at math, but this scenario is starting earlier and
If you’ve got a tree-hugging little girl who adores the great outdoors, she’s gonna LOVE the math of finding fractals in nature. Fractals are one of the coolest ways to show a connection between math and the real world. Once she knows what to look for, your girl will start looking for math everywhere! What the heck is a fractal? Think of fractals as the Russian dolls of nature. A
Clumsy Thief is a cartoony, wildly addictive addition game for kids ages 7-11. I’ll be straight up with you: Clumsy Thief can get loud. You may also have to deal with weeks of kids begging, “PLEASE can we play Clumsy Thief? Pleeeeeaaaase??” Which, you know, there are worse things than your kid begging to play a math game. But I can pretty much guarantee you that your kid will come
Here’s an awesome subtraction game with a cool counting money twist. The great thing about this math card game is that it doesn’t feel math-y at all. Kids love it because they get to run their fingers through actual money (mwa-ha-ha!) and get paid by their opponent. What’s not to like? Meanwhile, you’ll be smugly watching her get better at counting money and subtracting numbers in her head–without even realizing it! HOW
I came up with this geometry game for kids after I had this conversation with a 4th grader: ME: What’s perimeter? 4th GRADER: It’s where when two sides are the same, then you um, I mean you times them by two. ME: Ok…I see where you’re going with that. But what does it mean, the perimeter of something? 4th GRADER: I know, but I can’t really explain it. This girl had learned
Caroline Diarte Edwards
Stacey Low
Janelle Thompson
Ephi Lu
Heather Carvill
Kimberley Cashin
Marjel Sheuer
Stephanie Tuxen Bisgaard
