by MathPickle | May 1, 2017 |
McGuire the Gathering is one of my favourite puzzle games. It is among the first that I designed in 2005 – five years before MathPickle came into being. It is based on the card game: Magic the Gathering. Download a pdf of this slide show here. Foul winds are...
by MathPickle | Apr 4, 2017 |
This puzzle should be explored after Square Sardine Packing. Choose some shapes – order them from first at the top (green rectangle) to the last at the bottom (purple rectangle). Now use the same algorithm that you used in Square Sardine Packing to pack the...
by MathPickle | Apr 4, 2017 |
The big square is squeeze-packed according to a strict set of rules called an algorithm. Let’s call this algorithm Square Sardine Packing. Can you figure out how it works in this big 9×9 square? Here is Square Sardine Packing on a 12×12 square. Try to...
by MathPickle | Feb 27, 2017 |
Jumping Frogs (MathPickle, 2017) The last puzzle in the video above was solved in 2025 by Joseph Burke, a student in Megan McKee’s grade 4 class. Spoiler alert! Here it is… Jumping Frogs is a fantastic base to create both casual and complex puzzles. We...
by MathPickle | Feb 17, 2017 |
Pollinator puzzles help students with multiplication, division and problem solving. I often emphasize the nasty stinger on the bee to recalcitrant boys just to engage them viscerally 😉 Forgive me! lol The class starts by collectively solving a puzzle. Here they must...
