Playful Math: Weekly Wonder

They’ve arrived! The long-awaited, full-color print editions of my new book, Charlotte Mason’s Living Math, have finally landed at the Playful Math Store. Order your copy today!

[And if you’re new here and haven’t heard about the book, you can find a great introduction on The New Mason Jar podcast.]

For this month’s playful math activity, I’ve got a couple of wonderful problem-solving and math-journaling resources for you.

Writing is a fantastic way to get students thinking deeply about mathematics, because wrangling their vague ideas into specific words helps them see exactly what they know---and what they still need to learn.

For children who struggle with writing, math journals offer flexibility of expression. Numbers, arrows, sketches, and equations let students communicate what they can’t yet put into words.

Even young children can benefit from journaling their math explorations, if we adults are willing to scribe for them.

Have fun playing math with your kids!

—Denise

Weekly Wonder is a new project from Early Family Math, for parents and teachers who want math puzzles and games delivered each week in their email.

Each Weekly Wonder email contains:

• A brief description of the activity

• “Tip of the Week” for families playing math with their children

• “Guiding the Wonder” ideas and hints.

• Plus a link to the activity page on the EFM website with a longer description and answers.

There are three bands of emails roughly corresponding to grade levels: K-2, 1-4, and 2-5, and you can sign up for more than one band.

• Sign up Today

Stella’s Stunners is a collection of more than 700 non-routine mathematics problems for middle and high school students.

The Stella problems were collected over many years by Rudd Crawford, long-time mathematics teacher at Oberlin High School, and have been used by a number of teachers around the world.

You can search by topic or course level, or just take the problems as they come, one set at a time.

• Stella’s Stunners home page

• Introduction for teachers

• Math Game Monday: Bowling

• Four Stages of Learning Math (or Anything Else)

• Thinking Thursday: Pentagram

[If you’re reading this late, the “Math Game Monday” and “Thinking Thursday” posts have a time limit. Each one stays on my blog for about a month, and then falls away, replaced by new games and journaling prompts. You can always find the newest posts at DeniseGaskins.com/blog.]

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“Playful Math: Weekly Wonder” copyright © 2026 by Denise Gaskins. Image at the top of the blog copyright © Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash

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