annieb123's Review of Math Games Lab for Kids (Lab for Kids, #10)

by Rebecca Rapoport and J A Yoder

Math is the foundation of all sciences and key to understanding the world around us. Math Games Lab for Kids shares more than 50 hands-on activities that make learning about math fun by drawing and building shapes, solving puzzles, and playing games.

Have fun:

exploring geometry and topology by making prisms, antiprisms, Platonic solids, and Möbius strips.
building logic skills by playing and strategizing through tangrams, toothpick puzzles, and the game of Nim.
drawing and charting graphs to learn the language of connections.
discovering how to color maps like a mathematician by using the fewest colors possible.
creating mind bending fractals with straight lines and repeat shapes.

Everything you need to complete the activities can be found in the book or around the house. Learn to think like a mathematician—see how much you'll discover!

The popular Lab for Kids series features a growing list of books that share hands-on activities and projects on a wide host of topics, including art, astronomy, clay, geology, energy, and even how to create your own circus—all authored by established experts in their fields. Each lab contains a complete materials list, clear step-by-step photographs of the process, as well as finished samples. The labs can be used as singular projects or as part of a yearlong curriculum of experiential learning. The activities are open-ended, designed to be explored over and over, often with different results. Geared toward being taught or guided by adults, they are enriching for a range of ages and skill levels. Gain firsthand knowledge on your favorite topic with Lab for Kids.

Originally published on my blog: Nonstop Reader.

Math Games Lab for Kids is a fun activity and games book for young readers. Released in 2017 by Quarto on their Quarry imprint, it's 144 pages and available in flexibound and ebook formats. It's book 6 of (currently) 24 books in the Labs for Kids series. Aimed at middle grade readers (grades 3-7) and their adults (parents, guardians, school resource personnel/teachers etc), it includes 25 short lab units for diverse math related fun (really!) activities.

The book includes a surprisingly diverse selection of fun puzzles which introduce basic concepts in topology, graph theory (including a really cool intro to the bridges of Königsberg), geometry, map theory, and fractals. The real genius of this book is that many of the labs are fun learning... the Sierpinski triangle in the fractals section will have learners of all ages reaching for drawing supplies.

STEAM learning is vitally important to our future and training our problem solvers now, and showing our young people how fascinating and -fun- mathematics is, is key to the process.

This is a worthwhile book. It would make a great classroom library book, resource book, homeschool resource book, or support text for kids 8-12(+). There's also a wide range of activities and the labs use easily sourced inexpensive materials. The photography is appealing and easy to follow.

Five stars. This is a great book and part of a solid series.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

I feel very strongly that making STE(A)M subjects fun for young readers is vitally important to inculcating a real love of science, critical thinking, exploration, and development. The authors' enthusiasm shines through in the text.

Math Games Lab for Kids (Lab for Kids, #10)

by Rebecca Rapoport and J A Yoder

Reviewed by annieb123 on Apr 14, 2020

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