Customer Reviews

Math Games & Activities from Around the World

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This is a very detailed book for ages 9 and up. It consists of games that correlate with some of today's districts standards. We have Native American patterning, Symmetry from Japan, Geometry from Kenya, Probability games from Mexico and Hawaii, and board games anywhere from China, Korea, and New Zealand.

This is a recomended book for those teacher or parents that want to make math a little more exicitng for children. Mathematics is not only about learning it from a textbook, but also from hands on experiences through games and visual aids. This books touched upon the idea that it's okay to make math fun for you and a child.

One or two games in this collection dates back about 3,300 years ago in Egyptian times. Symmetry is learned from making masks and faces from the U.S. and Native Americans. Islamic "POLYGONS" are also found in this book. You can learn to make "Hopi Flat Baskets" that dates back about 1,500 years ago when baskets were found in the ruins of Anasazi homes. These baskets show children about symmetry and design. Repeated patterns from Alaska show children that we don't only have patterns in designs but, we also have patterns in every day items all around us.

This is an excellent book that lets children view math from the fun and creative perspective. Teachers can have fun while teaching district standards and make sure that our youth isn't bored with the "textbook" syndrome as Harry Wong puts it. We need to show children that mathematics deals with every day life and that it doesn't only appear on the pages of a text every five days. Mathematics is the necessary means for survival in our complex and equative society. This books let's us step outside of the "textbook syndrome" and let children explore the "real-world" experiences.

Featuring more than seventy 'kid friendly' math games, puzzles, and projects from all over the world, "Math Games & Activities From Around The World" by Claudia Zaslavsky is 160 pages of fun, math skill developing exercises that will have enormous appeal for children ages 9 and older. Children will engage in the use of geometry to design game boards, probability to analyze games of chance, logical thinking to devise gaming strategies, and more. From Tic-tac-toe (first played in ancient Egypt), to Nine Men's Morris (once played in England with living pieces), and Mankala - the oldest and most popular game in the world. From building a model pyramid to working maze-like African network puzzles, "Math Games & Activities From Around The World" is a unique and welcome supplemental addition to school math and logic skill development curriculums. Also very highly recommended for classroom and homeschool curriculums is Claudia Zaslavsky's companion book, "More Math Games & Activities From Around The World" featuring seventy more games, puzzlers and projects ranging from Mongolian 'Jirig', to Sudan's 'Little Goat Game', to the game of 'Achi' from Ghana.

One of the goals of teaching math is for students to apply and synthesis what they are shown. These problem solving and critical thinking games are so much fun for the students that they want to create their own version of some of these games. A great resource for every classroom.

My brother gave this as a gift to my twin 6yr olds and they love it. Though the book is recommended for 9+ kids, there are lots of games and activities much younger kids can play. Introduction to each game / activity describe the origin of the game in a way that we can imagine how people played the game long ago. Probably most games can be included in weekly themes of primary school class lessons. For now I let the kids work out the strategies themselves. Probably we will revisit the games / activities few years and analyze them mathematically. Also there is a lot of variety between games and activities compared to a "kids activity" book full of 100 mazes or 100 kidoku puzzles.