“Reading one of Gaskins’ books is like going to a really great teacher workshop — part philosophy, part practical ideas, and all excellent. She just oozes expertise and enthusiasm.”
—Amy at Hope Is the Word
Click Here to Shop Our Ebooks & Printable Activities
(Our authors earn 50% more royalties when you choose to cut out the middleman and buy direct.)
Find Out More About Our Books
- New to playful math? Start with the Sampler
- Or go directly to Let’s Play Math
- Then explore the Math You Can Play series
- Try a hands-on activity from the Playful Math Singles
- Join the Math Rebellion with Journals for Adventurous Students
- Or explore math topics with a Printable Activity Guide
- Record your discoveries in Dot Grid Journals for children and adults
New Project: the Tabletop Math Games Collection
- Are you a parent trying to help your child learn math?
- Or a teacher looking for creative ideas for your classroom?
- Or a homeschooling parent hoping to enrich your student’s understanding?
Then the Tabletop Math Games Collection is perfect for you.
Math games build mental flexibility and strategic reasoning in players of all ages. And even people who hated math in school can enjoy the friendly challenge of a game.
Readers of my Math You Can Play series know the joy of gaming can transform a child’s attitude toward math. But many of you tell me the books get lost on your bookshelves or in your ebook reading device. You’ve begged me to make math gaming more open-and-go.
So my new Tabletop Math Games Collection is designed to make it easier than ever for busy families and over-stressed teachers to play with math. These books are written directly for young gamers and require only common household supplies like cards, dice, and scratch paper. Children can open to any page and start playing right away.
Click here to download a free digital printable sampler file, with 4 ready-to-play games you can enjoy today.
Whether you’re a busy parent or an overworked teacher, you’ll love the Tabletop Math Games Collection — the natural, no-stress way to build your children’s understanding and confidence.
“Denise Gaskins is that sound voice of reason that comes into my head when I get agitated teaching. This isn’t performance — this is play. My kids aren’t on trial, they are learning to learn.”
—Sonya Post, online reader review
New to Playful Math? Start Here
Do you want your children to enjoy learning math? Teach them how to play!
After the troubles of recent years, it’s even more important for families to play together. So we’ve made the ebook version of Let’s Play Math Sampler: 10 Family-Favorite Games for Learning Math Through Play permanently free.
What a great way to introduce your child to the joy of learning!
With excerpts taken from author Denise Gaskins’s most popular books, the Let’s Play Math Sampler features ten kid-tested games covering math concepts from counting to prealgebra.
Pick up a copy today, and make math a playful family adventure.
Or Shop Your Favorite Online Store
… or request a copy from your library or local bookshop.
“Math is so many things — beauty, structure, problem solving, communication, language, creativity — but here’s what I’ve learned as I’ve tried to help my children develop positive relationships with math: It All Begins With Play. Anything by Denise Gaskins is a fantastic place to start. These books are filled with the perfect combination of perspective and practicality.”
—Michele Johnson, Instagram post
Transform Your Child’s Experience of Math
Filled with stories and illustrations, Let’s Play Math: How Families Can Learn Math Together and Enjoy It features activities for preschool to high school students. It’s a treasure trove of helpful tips for all families, whether your children are homeschooling, unschooling, or attending a traditional classroom.
Even if you struggled with math in school, you can help your kids practice mental math skills, master the basic facts, and ask the kind of questions that encourage deeper thought.
Don’t let your kids suffer from the epidemic of math anxiety. Grab a copy of Let’s Play Math, and start enjoying math today.
Shop Your Favorite Online Store
… also available at 
or request a copy from your library or local bookshop.
“This is the math helper I wish I’d had years ago.”
—Anne White, author of Minds More Awake
Math Your Kids WANT to Do
You’ll love these math games because they give your child a strong foundation for mathematical success.
By playing these games, you strengthen your child’s intuitive understanding of numbers and build problem-solving strategies. Mastering a math game can be hard work. But kids do it willingly because it’s fun.
Each book in the Math You Can Play series features twenty or more kid-tested math games, offering a variety of challenges for all ages.
- Read detailed descriptions and reviews.
- Download the Math Game Printables Packs companion files.
Or shop your favorite online store:
Amazon.com (and Amazon UK, Amazon CA, Amazon AU, Amazon IN, and other Amazon stores worldwide)
… or request a paperback copy from your local bookshop.
“It revolutionized our homeschool this year.”
—Caitlin Fitzpatrick Curley, author of My Little Poppies
The Playful Math Singles series
The Playful Math Singles from Tabletop Academy Press are short, topical books featuring clear explanations and ready-to-play activities. More titles coming soon…
70+ Things To Do with a Hundred Chart: Number, Shape, and Logic Activities from Preschool to Middle School
We love easy activities that require minimal preparation so we can pull something out and play when we’re having one of those no-energy days.
Take your child on a mathematical adventure with these playful, practical activities. Who knew math could be so much fun?
Shop Your Favorite Online Store
… also available at or request a copy from your library or local bookshop.
312 Things To Do with a Math Journal
In a math journal, children explore their own ideas about numbers, shapes, and patterns through drawing or writing in response to a question. Journaling teaches them to see with mathematical eyes. They grow confident in their ability to think through new ideas.
These activities work at any grade level, and most can be enjoyed more than once. It doesn’t matter whether your students are homeschooled or in a classroom, distance-learning, or in person. Everyone can enjoy the experience of playing around with math.
Shop Your Favorite Online Store
And be sure to grab an Adventurous Student Journal or the printable Journaling Pages Bundle to make the writing fun!
Word Problems from Literature: An Introduction to Bar Model Diagrams
Word Problems from Literature features math puzzles for elementary and middle school students inspired by classic books such as Mr. Popper’s Penguins and The Hobbit. Denise Gaskins demonstrates step by step how to solve these problems — and how to build a strong foundation of problem-solving skills that can handle any situation.
You’ll love this book, because it prepares your children for mathematical success.
The main book is a teacher’s guide with explanations and answers. You may also want the companion Word Problems Student Workbook featuring just the word problems (with extra room for children to create their own puzzles).
Order your copy today!
Or preorder through your favorite bookstore for publication on 3/14/2023:
Let’s Play Math Sampler: 10 Family-Favorite Games for Learning Math Through Play
Do you want your children to enjoy learning math? Teach them how to play!
In excerpts from author Denise Gaskins’s most popular books, the Let’s Play Math Sampler features ten kid-tested games covering math concepts from counting to prealgebra.
Pick up a copy of the Let’s Play Math Sampler today, and make math a playful family adventure.
Shop Your Favorite Online Store
… or request a copy from your library or local bookshop.
Shop for the Playful Math Singles in Paperback
Amazon.com (and Amazon UK, Amazon CA, Amazon IN, and in the other Amazons worldwide)
…or by special request at your favorite local bookseller.
“I feel like I’ve been ambling in the woods — enjoying the journey but a bit anxious about where we’re going to end up and whether we’re going to reach our ‘destination’ ‘on time’ (whatever that means!).
“I knew the well-travelled road (maths curricula) wasn’t for us, but I lacked confidence in my ability to guide my children through uncharted territory. Let’s Play Math is the map and the guidebook I’ve been looking for. With it in my hand I can’t wait to take my children by the hand and head off to explore the wonderful world of maths.”
—Lucinda Leo, Navigating by Joy
Explore Math as a Creative Adventure
Amazon Exclusive: These books are currently available only through Amazon.
The adventure of learning doesn’t belong only in school. Learning happens whenever a curious mind meets a new idea.
As students write about their discoveries, they build deeper layers of understanding. The process of wrestling ideas into words forces them to pin down nebulous thoughts and decide what they really believe. Writing helps students develop a richer mathematical mindset.
This beautiful 110-page book is printed in full color with the luxurious feel of matte binding. The student pages look like parchment to make writing fun. The sturdy paper will stand up to repeated erasing, and it works great with gel pens, too. A light blue dot grid provides writing guidelines or the beginning of a geometry investigation—depending on your journaling prompt.
Do you want to transform your child’s experience of learning math? Pick up an Adventurous Student Journal and launch your family’s math rebellion today.
Buy a Student Journal Now:
- Math Rebel: Creative Problem-Solving for Adventurous Students
- Odyssey: The Adventure of Learning
- Reflections of Infinity: The Adventure of Learning Mathematics
Or Get the Premium Editions:
Pay a little more for thicker paper and richer color.
- Math Rebel: Creative Problem-Solving for Adventurous Students
- Odyssey: The Adventure of Learning
- Reflections of Infinity: The Adventure of Learning Mathematics
You can read all about the journals at the Make 100 Math Rebels Kickstarter project page. The Kickstarter campaign has ended, but the free 10-page How To Be a Math Rebel sampler download remains available.
“It doesn’t matter whether your students are homeschooled or in a classroom, distance-learning or in person. Everyone can enjoy the experience of playing around with math.”
—Denise Gaskins
Printable Activity Guides
Now that we’ve got an online store of our own, Denise Gaskins has been filling it with playful math activities.
These games, worksheets, discussion prompts, and lesson guides spring from more than three decades of math club and homeschool coop enrichment classes. It’s a great collection of low- or no-prep ideas for playing math with your kids.
The first two Geometric Coloring Designs books are permafree. And we’ve kept all the other prices as low as possible to fit struggling family budgets.
Just go to our online store and click the “Printable Activity Guides” button to check out all the mathy fun.
Do you prefer a different store? Most of the titles are also available from Teachers Pay Teachers, and I’m in the process of getting them uploaded to Amazon.com Ignite.
“It’s a crime, really, that school makes math so boring, when there are so many ways to do the opposite, for anyone who wants to. Denise Gaskins’s book is full of ideas.”
—Sasha Alyson, Online reader review
Dot Grid Journals for Children and Adults
Learning is a great adventure for elementary and middle-school students.
And for their parents, too!
These Dot Grid Journals provide a great place for children and adults to keep track of our discoveries.
The roomy pages offer plenty of space to record memories, plan projects, and keep track of tasks. Your children can solve challenge problems, write explanations, or design their own puzzles. Brainstorm for reports, jot down ideas, work out homework, copy your favorite quotations, or doodle to your heart’s content.
Perfect for use as a commonplace book or to help your child master Bullet Journaling. The paperback binding provides strength without adding weight. Tough enough to withstand a crowded purse or schoolbag.
Order a Dot Grid Journal today, and launch your child (or yourself!) on a voyage of educational exploration.
For more information:
- Read the story behind the journals.
- Try these math journaling prompts.
- Get ideas for mathematical doodling.
Available only through Amazon:
Amazon.com (and Amazon UK, Amazon CA, and other Amazon stores worldwide)
Tabletop Academy Press 
when will the books be available? I hope soon, my 13 yr old daughter is struggling badly with doing adding, subtracting, multiply of fractions and other pre algebra work and so am I, we really need some help! 2 people tried to tutor her but the next day she would forget what she learned, I hope this book can help her.
Hi, Cindy, and thank you for dropping by! I hope to get the Multiplication & Fractions book out next year, in 2016, but I’m sure you want something sooner than that for helping your daughter.
James Tanton has an interestingly different approach to learning fractions — perhaps it will click with her.
And John Golden recently collected a nice set of free algebra resources that you can try (scroll down to the bullet-point list).
Finally, please check out Jo Boaler’s YouCubed website for inspiration and advice on learning math. And sign up for her free How to Learn Math course for students and parents.
I guess some of your books are useful in my research. Life is a mathematical problem. To pick up the most, you need to realize how to change over negatives into positives. I have to purchase one of them soon. Thanks!
Hi, Jerry, I hope you find something interesting!