One of the end-of-year activities I did with my statistics students was to explore the four color theorem. One of my students had been begging for weeks for me to let them color. I don’t think this was what she had in mind… Of course, I didn’t tell them the name of the theorem. I …
End of Year Activities
I ran across the game of Wild Tic Tac Toe while researching Tic Tac Toe variants for my classroom. Wild Tic Tac Toe is the same as regular tic tac toe, except that on your turn you may place either an X or an O – your choice – in an empty cell. If this …
What happens when you combine tic tac toe with a dice game? I was excited to discover this Tic Tac Toe Dice game in the book Dice Games by John Belton and Joella Crambit (1976). I was so excited about it that I typed up a PDF version to use with my students before I …
I was super excited to discover a mathematical variation of tic-tac-toe. Instead of playing with Xs and Os, Numerical Tic Tac Toe is a game of evens vs odds. I printed the even and odd numbers on different colors of paper to make it super clear which numbers belong to each person. You might have …
A few weeks ago, I posted the Tic Tac Toe Challenge for my students to tackle. After students solved the puzzle, they often ended up using the grid on the board to play regular tic tac toe. The puzzle only uses X’s, so students would end up drawing in the O’s with a dry erase …
I’m super excited about using this ink stain matching activity as a first day of school activity for next year. It’s a great conversation starter, and I can see it being used in many different types of classrooms and subjects as a beginning of year team-building activity. If you are still in school and looking …
In this Make Six Puzzle, you are given eight equations. You must insert mathematical symbols (no digits) to make each equation equal six. If you are wondering what mathematical symbols you are allowed to use, that is up to you!
Everyone knows how to play tic-tac-toe. But can you solve the tic tac toe challenge puzzle? This fun brain teaser is simple to explain, but it can be hard to solve!
Lonesome Llama is an excellent first day of school activity/first week of school activity to teach students how to effectively communicate in a group. The activity is from IMP (Interactive Mathematics Program) Groups of students are provided with a deck of cards. Each card features a different llama’s house. Students must work together to figure …
Several summers ago, I created a DIY Instant Insanity Puzzle as part of my summer quest to create as many puzzles as possible using a bag of 1 inch wooden cubes. That summer, I created and blogged about SOMA Block Challenges, Genius Blocks, and the Three Immovable Pentablocks Puzzle. I never got around to blogging …