Yelena McManaman - Moebius Noodles: Adventurous Math for the Playground Crowd

Moebius Noodles

Adventurous math for the playground crowd

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license by Moebius Noodles.

Others can remix, tweak, and build upon this work non-commercially, as long as they credit Moebius Noodles and license their new creations under the identical terms.

Contact http://moebiusnoodles.com for commercial rights.

ISBN: 978-0-9776939-5-5 (paperback)

ISBN: 978-0-9776939-1-7 (ebook)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2013934669

Text: Yelena McManaman and Maria Droujkova

Illustrations and design: Ever Salazar

Copyedits: Carol Cross

Formatting: Polgarus Studio

Published by Delta Stream Media, an imprint of Natural Math

309 Silvercliff Trail, Cary, NC, USA

Table of Contents

Symmetry

Number

Function

Grid

There are no names on the cover of this book because it would not be possible to fit the names of everyone who helped make it happen. This book came about thanks to the adventurous parents, colleagues, and friends of young math who took our original classes, play-tested our ideas, asked deep questions, crowdfunded the making of the book, guest blogged on our site, shared their concerns, and sent us their and their kids thoughts about the games.

Anonymous

Aaron Silvers

Adam Hansen

Alexander Bogomolny

Alexander Rozenfeld

Algot Runeman

Ali Rosselle

Allison Krasnow

Andrius Kulikauskas

Angela Stauder

Ann Lettes

Anna Weltman

Anne Jeanette Martin

Arkadiy Birger

Axelle Faughn

Barbara Schindelhauer

Bettina Bowers Schwan

Bonnie Crowder

Boris Brodsky

Brad Morgan

Brandy Wiegers

Brenda Weiss

Brian Turley

Colin Chambers

Carles Aguilo Collado

Carol Cross

Chris Hunter

Christian McManaman

Christine Cobb

Colleen King

Dani Novak

Daniel Patterson

David Cordeiro

David Wees

Deborah Cohen

Denise Gaskins

Dmitri Droujkov

Dmitri Kazmin

Dmitry Sagalovskiy

Dor Abrahamson

Elena Bazarova

Elena Koldertsova

Elisa Wing

Elizabeth Ross

Elizabeth Zwicky

Ever Salazar

Fred Bishop

George Vennebush

Gina Goddard

Gordon Hutchinson

Heather Chapman

Heidi Van Natter

Hope McMullan

Hope Thompson

Irina Mokrova

James Laidlaw

Jason Holder

Jenny Eggleston

Joel Duffin

John Domar

John Golden

Julia Brodsky

Joshua Zucker

Kelli Brandon

Kelly Prak

Kialei

Kimberley Meltzer

Kimberly Naylor

Laura Overdeck

Lee Ann Dietz

Lucy Laffitte

Madison Cross Sugg

Malke Rosenfeld

Maria Linnik

Maria Muscarella

Marie Brodsky

Marjalee Smith

Mary Malpezzi

Matt Droujkov

Max Leisten

Melanie Hayes

Michael Rachkovsky

Michael Thayer

Mike Graham

Nancy Ruhana

Nicole Smith

Noelle Cahow

Nora Reynolds

Patrick Honner

Paul Solomon

Pete Longhurst

Porter Family

Richard Elwes

Royce Riddle

Ryan Combs

Sara Joy Pond

Sara McGrath

Science Jim

Sharon Vogt

Sheri Soffian

Sol Lederman

Stacy Perry

Stephen Thomas

Sue Stern

Sue Van Hattum

Suellen DiMassimo

Susan Mygatt

Terri Coons

Vitomir Stojanovski

Zhuo Hong

Why Play This Book

Children dream big. They crave exciting and beautiful adventures to pretend-play. Just ask them who they want to be when they grow up. The answers will run a gamut from astronauts to zoologists and from ballerinas to Jedi masters. So how come children dont dream of becoming mathematicians?

Kids dont dream of becoming mathematicians because they already are mathematicians. Children have more imagination than it takes to do differential calculus. They are frequently all too literate like logicians and precise like set theorists. They are persistent, fascinated with strange outcomes, and are out to explore the what-if scenarios. These are the qualities of good mathematicians!

As for mathematics itself, its one of the most adventurous endeavors a young child can experience. Mathematics is exotic, even bizarre. It is surprising and unpredictable. And it can be more exciting, scary, and dangerous than sailing on high seas!

But most of the time math is not presented this way. Instead, children are required to develop their mathematical skills rather than being encouraged to work on something more nebulous, like the mathematical state of mind. Along the way the struggle and danger are de-emphasized, not celebrated with good intentions, such as safety and security. In order to achieve this, children are introduced to the tame, accessible scraps of math, starting with counting, shapes, and simple patterns. In the process, everything else mathematical gets left behind for when the kids are ready. For the vast majority of kids, that readiness never comes. Their math stays simplified, impoverished, and limited. Thats because you cant get there from here. If you dont start walking the path of those exotic and dangerous math adventures, you never arrive.

It is as tragic as if parents were to read nothing but the alphabet to children, until they are ready for something more complex. Or if kids had to learn The Itsy-Bitsy Spider by heart before being allowed to listen to any more involved music. Or if they were not allowed on any slide until, well, learning to slide down in completely safe manner. This would be sad and frustrating, wouldnt it? Yet thats exactly what happens with early math. Instead of math adventures observations, meaningful play, and discovery of complex systems children get primitive, simplistic math. This is boring not only to children, but to adults as well. And boredom leads to frustration. The excitement of an adventure is replaced by the gnawing anxiety of busy work.

We want to create rich, multi-sensory, deeply mathematical experiences for young children. The activities in this book will help you see that with a bit of know-how every parent and teacher can stage exciting, meaningful and beautiful early math experiences. It takes no fancy equipment or software beyond everyday household or outdoor items, and a bit of imagination which can be borrowed from other parents in our online community. You will learn how to make rich mathematical properties of everyday objects accessible to young children. Everything around you becomes a learning tool, a prompt full of possibilities for math improvisation, a conversation starter. The everyday world of children turns into a mathematical playground.

Children marvel as snowflakes magically become fractals, inviting explorations of infinity, symmetry, and recursion. Cookies offer gameplay in combinatorics and calculus. Paint chips come in beautiful gradients, and floor tiles form tessellations. Bedtime routines turn into childrens first algorithms. Cooking, then mashing potatoes (and not the other way around!) humorously introduces commutative property. Noticing and exploring math becomes a lot more interesting, even addictive. Unlike simplistic math that quickly becomes boring, these deep experiences remain fresh, because they grow together with childrens and parents understanding of mathematics.