[This is a back-issue of this website’s newsletter]
In my last email, I mentioned I was going to add a big section to the site, all about fractions. Well, so far so good. besides the equivalent fractions quiz I mentioned in my last email, there’s a collection of equivalent fractions worksheets, and a bunch of online fractions calculators.
After that, though, I took a two-week break from fractions, to make a brand-new brain puzzle game! The puzzle (I call it Squink) is inspired by those IQ questions – you know, “How many squares are shown in this picture?” – if you are good at those, you’ll be good at Squink.
“Squink” is short for “Square think”. There are two ways to play it. In one, you see a pattern drawn on a grid, and you have to spot all the squares and count them – but to make the puzzle more interesting, you need to count, for every space in the grid, how many squares contain that space… Yes, Squink is more challenging than the square-counting puzzles in IQ tests. A veteran of Squink will have no trouble with them any more!
The other way to play Squink is to find the squares – you’ll be shown a grid full of numbers, and you have to draw a set of squares that match the numbers. There might be more than one solution, so any pattern of squares that matches the numbers is counted as a win.
Head over to http://www.dr-mikes-math-games-for-kids.com/squink-puzzle.html and try out your squinking (square thinking) skills. There’s also a “Puzzle Designer” that lets you create your own Squink puzzle patterns, and share them with your friends!
This brings to exactly 60 the number of free math games and resources on Dr Mike’s Math Games for Kids.
Another new feature of the site is that you can now leave comments on any page of the site, just as if it was a blog. Comments can be anonymous, or you can sign in with your facebook ID, your openID or a couple of other ways. I moderate all comments before they appear on the site, so if your comment doesn’t appear immediately, don’t despair. (Note that I usually don’t pass frivolous or rude comments, comments with personal information, or solutions to puzzles!)
So hop over to Dr Mike’s Math Games for Kids, leave a comment if you have something to tell the world, and then make up a really tough Squink puzzle to challenge your friends, colleagues or the kids you look after!
Yours,
Dr Mike…