Valentine’s Day Codes

Teach your students about basic cryptography and code making.

Path Cipher (Codes Part 4)

Now let’s try the Path Cipher – a cipher that mixes things up even more than Zig Zag did.

Zig Zag Cipher (Codes Part 3)

Let’s try a cipher that doesn’t substitute new letters or shapes. We just mix things up.

Pig Pen Cipher (Codes Part 2)

Let’s encode some secret messages with a cipher that was actually used during the American Civil War!

Shift Cipher (Codes Part 1)

Let’s encode and decode secret messages like Julius Caesar!

Drawing An Impossible Triangle

Here’s how you can draw The Penrose Triangle, an example of an impossible shape.

Drawing Knots, Level 3

How to draw the final version of the twisty Henri Matisse knot!

Drawing Knots, Level 2

How to draw a more complex version of this twisty Henri Matisse knot!

Drawing Knots, Level 1

How to draw a simple version of this twisty Henri Matisse knot!

Word Pyramid: T to PLANET

Add a letter at each step to form a new word. Can you connect T and PLANET?

Word Pyramid: O to Stones

Add a letter at each step to form a new word. Can you connect the starting point and ending point?

Sets of Idioms Related to Body Parts

Five sets of five idioms, all related to body parts!

Anti-Checkers

Sure, anyone can win at checkers… but can you lose!?

Four Player Chess

Tired of boring ol’ chess? Then you need to try FOUR PLAYER chess!

Looping Grid Art

Pick a few numbers, draw some corresponding lines on grid paper, and you’ll end up with some interesting, looping math-y art!

Word Ladder: Fast to Race (4 step)

COLD to COOL. BAND to SING. Change one letter at a time — can you find the path?

Art Lesson: One-Point Perspective

Let’s give our students an art history lesson while teaching them how to enhance their drawings using one-point perspective.

Art Lesson: Two-Point Perspective

Let’s get students’ art really popping with two-point perspective!

Word Ladder: Foot to Shoe (4 Steps)

COLD to COOL. BAND to SING. Change one letter at a time — can you find the path?

An Escher-Style Tessellation Project

Create a piece of repeating art in the style of MC Escher!

Self Portraits Part One: Line Drawings

Anyone, yes anyone, can create a (somewhat) realistic self-portrait using these steps. Anyone!

Game: Snakes

In this grid-based strategy game, who will be the last to add to the snake?

Math Game: Heaps

Try this a simple (but surprisingly strategic) subtraction game!

Word Ladders Introduction

You won’t believe how this spelling and vocabulary puzzle will get kids’ brains sweating over the smallest of words.

Game: Order and Chaos

Imagine Tic-Tac-Toe if both players could play as both Xs and Os!

Bulls and Cows

How quickly can you break the numeric code?

Chomp

Chomp away at your opponent in this grid-based strategy game.

Col – A Strategy Game

The first person to run out of regions loses in this strategy game.

Sprouts

Learn how to play the abstract, paper-and-pencil game Sprouts.

Writing Clear Directions

Can you write directions so clear that a group of kids can put a toy together with no illustrations?