Math can be fun, and here are some activities to prove it!

Post date: Nov 18, 2016 3:00:47 PM

Here are some of the things we explored in Math Club:

• We learned and played math/thinking games such as Nim, chess, cribbage, etc.
• We examined other number bases, such as base 4, base 2, and base 12. We wrote the value of base 10 numbers in the different bases. We figured out the base 10 value of numbers written in other bases. We added and subtracted in other bases.
• We worked with pentomines, trying to fits sets of pieces into given frames: 6 x 10, 5 x 12, or 8 x 8 (with either the four corners “removed” or the four center squares “removed”).
• We created designs with tangrams.
• We made pattern placemats using cut-out pattern block pieces to make interesting borders on construction paper.
• We used pattern blocks to create designs with one or more lines of symmetry.
• We measured our bodies and compared ratios (e.g., height to arm span; circumference of thumb to circumference of wrist; circumference of wrist to circumference of neck; circumference of neck to circumference of waist, etc.)
• We solved logic puzzles (using one's commercially produced).
• We created tessellations: we found shapes that would tessellate as well as creating our own unusual shapes that would tessellate.
• We made paper quilt squares in a variety of patterns and calculated the fractional part of each color we used.
• We examined the Fibonacci sequence and looked at real-life examples of where it appears in nature (such as on a pinecone, on flowers, leaves, pineapples, seeds in fruit, etc.
• We created Moebius strips, and marked and cut them to discover interesting properties about them.
• We solved magic squares and then created our own.
• We examined Pascal’s Triangle and looked for patterns on it.
• We created designs with exactly one meter of string glued onto paper (easier to do the basic designing first with dry string, then dip the string in white glue to create the final project).
• We created our own codes using numbers and wrote secret messages to each other.
• We made designs on 100-grid paper using a specific amount of colored squares (e.g., what designs can be made coloring exactly 50% of the grid? 60%? etc.)
• We created “Guess My Number” puzzles for each other to solve. Each puzzles was to have 3 to 5 clues, first starting with a broad clue and getting more specific each time. (E.g., 1 my number is a prime number less than 30. 2 my number is not part of a pair of twin primes. 3 My number is even.)

I am sure there are other things we did, but those are the ones that I remember at the moment! I am sure you can find other ideas and topics to explore as well.

I hope you will consider giving Math Club a try.

Mathematically yours,

Club Member, Ahmad Sajjad