Today’s Date with Jack and Jill

Christopher DanielsonWe think math is fun!Leave a Comment

We were invited recently to a STEAM Fair in Minneapolis. It took place Saturday, January 25 and was sponsored by a local chapter of Jack and Jill of America, an organization dedicated to nurturing future African-American leaders by working with children and their mothers. 

We brought most of our usual favorites—such as butterfly puzzles, and Block by Block, Jr. (a Scott Kim design ). We shared a room with two bioengineers leading a hands-on activity of modeling DNA with gummy bears and Twizzlers, so a good time was being had all around.

One story in particular stood out to us.

A youngster—probably 9 or 10 years old—was solving the Today’s Date puzzle that we have adapted with permission from the original DragonFjord design.

A puzzle frame reads "Today's Date is:". There are eight Tetris-like pieces that cover an internal grid, leaving two squares uncovered. In this image, the two uncovered squares are both numbers: 5 and 13.

Initially, he was just happy with whatever date came up. 

He found August 6.

A short while later, he found September 11.

This is one of our favorite things about this puzzle, and why it is so consistently a thing we put in math rooms and bring to events: There are many ways to play!

Sure, the puzzle is called Today’s Date, but there’s no reason this you have to play that way. Leaving any month/day combination uncovered is its own level of challenge. Leaving a particular combination is another.

We asked, and this child informed us that there was nothing special for him about these dates; they were just the ones that popped out as he tried new things.

As he persisted, he developed a new goal of solving for that day’s date (January 25). 

He succeeded.

We see the puzzle solved for Jan 25.

So did an 11-year-old girl a little later that morning, but in a different way.

We see the puzzle upside-down, with the solver's hand on the far side of the table. Jan and 25 are uncovered, but the arrangement of pieces is different from the first one.

We love doing events! If you’d like to have us, and you’re in Austin, TX, the Twin Cities, or one of the places where we have a math room partnership, reach out on our Contact page to start a conversation!

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