Complete Resource List

Sophie Germain demonstrated not only a love of math, but fierce determination in her quest to study it, eventually becoming the first woman to win a grand prize from the Academy of Sciences. As a girl, her parents took away her candles to keep her from studying math, and since women were not allowed to attend universities, she secretly obtained notes from math classes and completed work under a male pen name… but no matter what, nothing stopped Sophie. She worked tirelessly on a theorem to predict patterns of vibration, which later helped with the groundwork for modern architecture. The illustrations enhance Sophie’s powerful story even more, incorporating pen-and-ink, watercolor, and collage. A great book for encouraging perseverance and grit!

Read More

In this logic and spatial reasoning game, you must tackle the challenge cards to get the marble through the maze. There are 60 challenges in total, ranging from beginner level to expert; also included are a game grid, nine towers, one target piece, and three marbles. The toy not only builds logic and reasoning skills, but also planning skills as children take on each challenge. And with a range of puzzles to try, it covers a large age range.

Read More

IQ Fit is a great way to challenge kids while building spatial reasoning skills and flexible thinking. The object is to rotate the colored pieces to fit on the board and match the challenge shown in the accompanying booklet. With 120 different puzzles, ranging from easy to expert level, this toy is great for kids of many ages. Making it even trickier is that each piece is three-dimensional and can be used in different ways, forcing your child to think about which way to use the piece to solve the puzzle. It is especially good for travel, as it comes in a compact case with a lid. Other similar SmartGames include IQ Stars, IQ Focus, IQ Link, and IQ Twist, which also come in convenient compact case

Read More

This book from the founder of Bedtime Math (www.bedtimemath.org) answers math questions covering a multitude of topics. It is quite helpful that the questions are organized by general topics: animals, nature, food, everyday life, Earth and space, and mental math. Some questions answered include: the number of bees needed to make a jar of honey, how fast the fastest growing tree on Earth actually grows, how many gallons of water are needed to put out a fire, and how many soccer balls would fit inside Earth. All of the math is broken down, with explanations for where those numbers came from, so it is all easy to understand. Have your child come up with their own questions and try to answer them (perhaps with some research help from you).

Read More

Lady Di of Ameter, Sir Cumference, and Reginald Parton, the Earl of Fracton are all enjoying the Fracton Faire. Here at the faire, one can buy all of just part of a good being sold. In this way, the book explains numerators and denominators, equal parts, and equivalent fractions. But then they find that a group of men are stealing from the faire (and in comes the concept of fractions of a set), so they hatch a plan to catch them through a fraction hunt resulting in a prize of a gold coin. While this book does a good job of hitting on many of the foundational fraction concepts that children learn in third grade, I would definitely not recommend this book until children have completed or nearly completed their first fractions unit in school. The book simply doesn’t spend long enough on any of the concepts to be a solid explanation, but would be a good way to reinforce these concepts once they have been learned.

Read More

These easy to use manipulatives simplify algebraic concepts for kids. You use the balance along with various game pieces to represent and then solve algebraic equations. Using the balance helps reinforce kids’ understanding of the equals sign meaning “same as”, as well as helps them understand what they are doing on paper to “balance” the equations and solve for the variable. We use this program at my own school starting in the 4th grade, so I have seen just how effective using this set can be. This is a fantastic way to help children build their conceptual understanding of variables and basic algebra; I wish we had this when I was first learning these concepts!

Read More

In Blokus, players take turns placing their pieces on the board (in red, blue, green, and yellow), but each piece must touch another of the same color, only at the corners. Players must try to place as many of their own pieces on the board as possible while also strategically blocking their opponents. The game ends when no more plays can be made by anyone, and the player with the lowest number of remaining pieces wins the game. This fast-paced game of strategy keeps minds sharp!

Read More

With hundreds of different challenges of increasing difficulty, Katamino offers brain teasers for all ages. It is a bit like Tetris in that you are tasked with finding ways to fit the shapes together and cover the board, but instead of using tetronimoes (shapes made of four blocks), you use pentominoes (shapes made with five blocks). The high quality wood game helps kids understand basic geometric concepts while building their spatial reasoning skills. It’s even great for travel, since you have a sturdy game board and the pieces will not get lost easily.

Read More

This suspenseful card game helps to teach both addition skills and strategy, and is fun to play for children and adults alike. The object of Rat-a-Tat Cat is to get the lowest score by trying to get rid of the rat cards (high) and go for the cat cards (low). Players are dealt four cards face down, but you can take an initial peek at two of the cards. At each turn, a player pulls a card from the draw pile to replace one of their four cards. But with only that initial peek, you must remember what cards you have and keep track of those values. Throughout the game you have options to sneak a peek at another’s cards, draw two, or swap cards with another player. To do well in this game, you need good timing, memory skills, and awareness of others (particularly poker faces!). This game is even a great way to start developing probability skills.

Read More

A classic card game! Players race to be the first to get rid of all their cards by matching numbers or colors. Players take turns getting rid of their cards, but the game can easily change with various action cards, like reversing the direction of play or a ‘draw four’ card that forces another player to draw four cards (perfect for when they are just about to get rid of the rest of their cards!). And you cannot forget to say “Uno!” when you are down to only one card—if someone else says it before you, you must draw. With simple rules, but plenty of room for strategy, this game is fun for a wide range of ages.

Read More