KenKen Puzzles

For our final suggestions of fun resources to consider using while celebrating National Brain Training Week (June 11-17, 2011) we will look at KenKen puzzles. Just as with the magic square and sudoku puzzles discussed earlier this week, KenKen puzzles help children develop problem solving skills and number sense. Puzzles also help develop concentration.

Here are a few good sources of KenKen puzzles:

Will Shortz Presents I Can KenKen! Volume 1: 75 Puzzles for Having Fun with Math is recommended for children ages 9-12. Shortz has also published volumes 2 and 3 for the same age range of children. All of the titles in the series include a "Home and Classroom Guide for Parents and Teachers" written by Marilyn Burns.

KenKen puzzles are also available as a handheld game.

Teaching Tip
The bulletin board idea mentioned in the June 15 posing on Sudoku can be adapted for KenKen puzzles.

As an alternative, instead of incorporating the puzzles we have talked about this week into classroom instruction, consider just having number puzzle books available for children to enjoy in their leisure time. Parents might consider having a few number puzzle books available in the car to occupy children on long trips. Magic Squares, Sudoku and KenKen are a great way for children to enjoy math with out any pressure. Let's always remember to create opportunities for children to enjoy the wonder and beauty of mathematics.

Sudoku

Continuing with our look at number puzzles in observance of National Brain Training Week (June 11-17, 2011) today we look at Sudoku, the number puzzle that quickly went from something no one had every heard of, let along pronounce, to becoming a global phenomenon. The traditional 9 x 9 grid Sudoku is easily adaptable for a range of age and ability levels. Books such as Will Shortz Presents the Monster Book of Sudoku for Kids: 150 Fun Puzzles begin with a short introductory lesson on solving Sudoku and entry level 4 x 4 grid puzzles before advancing to 6 x 6 then the traditional 9 x 9 grid puzzles.

In Sudoku Puzzles for Kids, author Michael Rios also modifies puzzles for children by only using the digits 1 - 6 in his puzzles rather than the typical 1 - 9.

Sudoku is accessible to even the youngest students with puzzles like those found in Kindergarten Sudoku by Peter Kattan and Sudokids.com Sudoku Puzzles For Children Ages 4-8: Every Child Can Do It. For Kids At Home or At School by Jonathan Bloom.

Teaching Tip
Carol A. Buckley describes a clever use of Sudoko in her November 2008 article, "Using Sudoku Bulletin Boards to Teach Mathematical Reasoning." Just as you can surmise from the article title, Buckley's idea is to create an interactive Sudoku as a bulletin board display. Using an enlarged 9 x 9 grid made of poster board mounted on a cloth covered classroom bulletin board, Buckley staples digit cards in the appropriate squares to replicate the given numbers of a puzzle she has selected from resources such as the books listed above. Velcro tabs are placed in the open spaces. Students use digit cards, with Velcro tabs on the reverse side, that Buckley makes available in an envelope positioned beside the grid. Throughout the day students can work individually or collaboratively to solve the puzzle. Once a puzzle is completed, Buckley can easily replace it with a new puzzle.

National Brain Training Week

In observance of National Brain Training Week (June 11-17, 2011) here are a couple of books that will give you and your students a good brain work out. What better way to put your mind through the paces than with number puzzles?

First let's ponder the challenges in magic squares. In Before Sudoku: The World of Magic Numbers Seymour S. Block and Santiago A. Taveres take readers on an engaging tour through time from the earliest appearance of the magic square (some 4,000 years ago in Ancient China) through modern times.

While Before Sudoku is more appropriate for high school students and adults, younger students will enjoy reading Ben Franklin and the Magic Square by Frank Murphy.

Benjamin Franklin's Numbers: An Unsung Mathematical Odyssey by Paul C. Pasels may be most appropriate for the mathematicians among us.

Teaching Tip
Try this Magic Square Generator students can use to create puzzles to share. Or select one of these classroom ready worksheets of magic squares built from whole numbers, fractions or decimal numbers.

Getting Ready for Summer Fun

Today I am going to list a few titles of books filled with math challenges that are good recommendations for parents asking for ways to keep their children engaged in mathematics throughout the summer break.

The Everything Kids' Math Puzzles Book: Brain Teasers, Games and Activities for Hours of Fun is filled with games and trivia to keep children ages 9-12 using their math skills to solve riddles and puzzles all summer long.



Math Games for Middle School:Challenges and Skill Builders for Students at Every Level begins with basic operations and moves into plane and solid geometry, graphing, probability and simultaneous linear equations.

In addition to paper and pencil type puzzles, children can use a lot of math skill playing card and dice games.

Two books by author Charles Lund, Math Games Played with Cards and Dice, Grades K-1 and Math Games Played with Cards and Dice, Grades 2 and 3 is filled with age and skill appropriate games that promote computation skills, logical thinking and mathematical reasoning.