More Math Games & Activities from Around the World
Introduction A NOTE TO PARENTS TEACHERS AND CAREGIVERS This book is a follow up to my 1998 volume Math Games and Activities from Around the World also pub lished by Chicago Review Press You may ask Why encourage children to play games when there is so much math to be learned That is exactly why In the course of engaging in these fun activities children utilize many important skills They calculate mea sure and solve problems They hone their abilities in geometry and in the recognition of patterns Most of all they learn to think critically Children who are uninterested in or bored by tra ditional math lessons are willing to persevere to find solutions to problems posed in a challenging game format The activities are open ended kids can engage with them as far as their interests and abili ties carry them Several different versions of some games and activities are presented so that children can gain wide experience with the relevant concepts Furthermore children learn about some aspects of mathematics that are not included in the school cur riculum such as networks graph theory and frac tals These games and activities are appropriate for children aged nine and up although some will appeal
to younger children and others may challenge adults Many of the projects are suited to collaboration between adults and children or for cooperative groups of students Each game and activity concludes with suggestions for further thought and research Activities may be chosen to fit into the math cur riculum or to relate to topics in language arts social studies science or fine arts Refer to the chart page 158 for the mathematical and nonmathematical con tent of each activity Readers may find answers to Some problems on pages 153 to 154 Reproducible pages of square and triangular isometric graph paper appear on pages 150 and 151 According to the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics document Principles and Standards for School Mathematics published in 2000 Mathematics is one of the greatest cultural and intellectual achievements of humankind and citizens should develop an appreciation and understanding of that great achievement including its aesthetic and recre ational aspects page 4 Through these games and activities children learn to appreciate the history and culture of many soci eties This book integrates math history art litera ture and world cultures to make math exciting for all children A NOTE TO KIDS This book presents more games and activities from
around the world a follow up to my Math Games and Activities from Around the world Here you will find more versions of three in a row games and Mankala old games going back hundreds and thousands of years to Africa as well as less familiar games from many lands Children in Mongolia in the Far East of Asia play games similar to Tic Tac Toe on several kinds of boards Kids in other parts of Asia pretend that tigers eat lambs in their board games Other activities deal with your own environment and beliefs How can you save water and precious materials Do you think that some numbers are more lucky than others You will find out why magic squares are magic You will learn to make beautiful designs and copy some of the lovely patterns in quilts and other objects and perhaps read books about these designs All these games and activities use math Some of the math is different from math you learn in school ideas like fractals in Native American baskets and networks from West Africa and India Read the hints and suggestions and don't give up Perhaps you will want to discuss the problems with your friends or a grown up A few of the activities have answers in the back of the book Most are self checking You can decide whether your answer makes sense If it doesn't you will have the satisfaction of finding the reason even if it takes a while Most of the board games are for two players or
teams You can also work out strategy by playing the games by yourself Pretend that you are two people and play both sides of the board Of course everyone likes to win But if one player is always the winner the other player is always the loser and may give up Help your opponent to learn better strategies and the game will become more interesting for you Win ning isn't everything I hope you and your friends have fun with this
