Math at Play

Thanksgiving break days are some of my favorite of the year….spending time with family and friends, eating (a lot), laughing, telling stories, watching football, shopping, and in our house, playing lots of games.

Playing games is a powerful way to build mathematical thinking and create connections between generations. (Check out Dan Finkel’s TedTalk below, his connection to play is my favorite.)

My kids love playing cribbage with grandpa every time he comes over to visit. Card and dice games are typically our go-tos over the holiday, but this year I introduced Hex.  I recently found it on the newest youcubed.org post.  I’ve played a version of this game in the past and its very strategic and fun!

Notice in Hex, there are no numbers!  How can we be doing mathematics and building mathematical thinking without playing with numbers?  Think about the 8 Mathematical Practice Standards. How do we want students to engage in mathematical thinking?  Do we value the skills of decision making, reasoning, strategy and problem posing as mathematical thinking? As adults, our decision making is often grounded in mathematics, but that mathematics is invisible to others, especially our children.  Let’s empower each other to value these skills as mathematics and make this kind of thinking visible to others.

In the days between now and the winter break, empower your students, your friends, your family to bring mathematics to the dinner table and to the holiday gatherings.  Challenge them to teach someone how to play Hex or another “mathy” game with no numbers.  Equip them with “Would you Rather” prompts, “Which One Doesn’t Belong?” images, and Estimation 180 images.  Maybe they can even create their own!