Check out Mathnasium of La Grange's 2023 Holiday Gift Guide!

Dec 11, 2023 | La Grange

Mathnasium of La Grange's annual Holiday Gift Guide is here to help you find awesome presents for the math lovers in your life! Check out our recommendations below.

GAMES & TOYS

  1. Sphero BOLT Coding Robot (Recommended Age: 8+)

Sphero’s BOLT Coding Robot is the ultimate coding robotic ball! Great for students of all levels, Sphero BOLT teaches them how to code and program three ways. It includes sensors and a programmable LED matrix. Plus, Sphero just launched their new elementary math lessons for BOLT!

Sphero transforms how kids PK-12 learn with a fun, comprehensive approach to STEAM and computer science. Their coding robots, design-and-build kits, curriculum, and engaging lessons and activities encourage exploration, imagination, and perseverance.

  1. ThinkFun Math Dice® (Recommended Age: 3+)

ThinkFun is the world’s leader in addictively fun games that stretch and sharpen your mind. Their Math Dice® games build critical skills that make math fun! Choose from three different options based on age and type of game:

My First Math Dice® (Ages 3+) — Turns simple math into a fun game, teaching number sense and focus.
Math Dice Jr.® (Ages 6+) — Makes math fun, reinforcing basic addition and subtraction.
Math Dice® (Ages 8+) — Helps players sharpen their mental math skills by solving problems in a fun new way.

  1. KiwiCo Robot Coder Starter Kit (Recommended Age: 5+)

Discover coding through hands-on play with KiwiCo’s Robot Coder Starter Kit, which comes with everything you need to build your robot and develop STEM skills that coders use daily.

KiwiCo delivers enjoyable hands-on projects that inspire a lifelong love for learning. These projects spark creative confidence for ongoing tinkering and experimentation. Sure, you can buy a robot — but isn’t it way more fun to build your own?

  1. Lakeshore Number Rockets (Recommended Age: 3+)

These “out-of-this-world rockets” will have little ones mastering their counting skills in no time! These 20 super-durable plastic rockets are made up of 3 pieces that show different representations of the same number.

Lakeshore Learning is the one-stop educational supply store, offering a huge range of teaching resources and classroom décor, plus high-quality classroom furniture, hands-on learning products, and so much more!

BOOKS

  1. The Golden Geometry Coloring Book (Recommended Age: 5+)

“The Golden Geometry Coloring Book” by the talented Rafael Araujo will satisfy any child’s math curiosity. It has 25 mathematical illustrations showcasing designs inspired by nature, found on Earth and in outer space!

An artist and illustrator for the last 40 years of his life, Rafael Araujo’s work has always been driven by the desire to represent the marvels and phenomena of nature using its geometrical and mathematical calculations. “Everything I draw, I draw by hand on my old drawing board, using squares, compasses, rulers, and protractors.” — Rafael Araujo.

  1. Math Games with Bad Drawings (Recommended Age: 9+)

Ben Orlin’s second book in his “Math with Bad Drawings” series offers 75 ¼ simple, challenging, go-anywhere games. The best part is that each takes only a minute to learn, but “a lifetime to master,” and most only require paper and pens!

  1. Totally Bonkers Math Joke Book (Recommended Age: 9+)

Full of calculated humor and crazy puns that you can “count” on, this “Totally Bonkers Math Joke Book” will satisfy the mathematician and comedian in your life! Share more than 130 puns and jokes about math with anyone who loves numbers.

  1. Talia’s Codebook for Mathletes (Recommended Age: 8+)

Award-winning author-illustrator Marissa Moss returns with a new comics diary book — and this time with a math twist! The main character Talia must crack the code of being cool in middle school. How does she do it? With the power of math, of course! This book is full of illustrations, doodles, graphs, and puzzles, and it’s best suited for kids aged 8-12.

HOME & DÉCOR

  1. Mabel’s Labels

For over 20 years, Mabel’s has provided parents with labels to send their little ones off to daycare, school, summer camp, and all the extracurriculars in between! Their waterproof labels have kept kids’ stuff safe — 100% satisfaction guaranteed.

Select the best combo based on the age of the child:

(1) Little Kid School Combo
(2) Ultimate Back-to-School Combo
(3) Middle School Combo

  1. The Proof is in the Pudding Bowls

Little bowls with deep ideas! This set of four ceramic pudding bowls is for the “mathematikoi — the inner circle of Euclid, Hippasus, Pythagoras, and Gauss.” Each bowl features a theorem and its math proof, making dessert more abstract than ever!

  1. Math Stickers

Spread the love of math with this 50-piece set of math stickers. Decorate a laptop, water bottle, luggage, scrapbook, and more! It’s the perfect gift for students and math teachers.

CLOTHING & JEWELRY

  1. Calculate Kindness into Everyday T-Shirt

This T-shirt is the ideal gift. Not only does it subtly inspire the practice of math, but it sends the beautiful message to be kind every day — a 2-in-1 deal!

  1. Math Symbol Earrings

There are so many math-y earrings to choose from, and this year we’ve selected these stylish-looking math symbol earrings. Showcasing the four basic operations, there’s no doubt these will get compliments even outside the math classroom!