Thursday, April 26, 2012

Magic Square

"Legend says an ancient Chinese emperor name Yu happened to be down by the Yellow River one evening when he noticed a turtle swim at his feet. The turtle had unusual marks on his shell which formed a magic square where all columns, rows, and diagonals summed to the same amount... 15. The 3 cell by 3 cell square grid pattern is called a Lo Shu magic square, representing the turtle star pattern and the Lo river." - Lo Shu Magic Square

A Magic Square is a great tactile, thinking game for kids, that has them rearrange three numerals (horizontal, vertical, and diagonal) so they all equal one sum, a magical number! I was inspired by Love 2 Learn 2 Day's milk cap magic square, so I made my own! Kids love the use of milk caps because they can slide and glide them around on a flat table top. Magic Squares are also a good way for kids to improve their addition skills using a group of addends, three whole numbers in an equation.

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