About
About Mathy Puzzles
The idea for this site came to me while I was washing the dishes. Not the puzzles; those had been piling up on my laptop for months. What came was the reason behind them.
I'm Vineesh. For the last 11 years I have worked in holistic education with children from 3 to 18, mostly on how children think and how they come to mathematics. Over those years one thing kept showing up. Children arrive with a lively way of thinking: they notice, they guess, they test, they argue. Somewhere along the way, the structures around them cover it up.
Math has its own pace, too. It grows slowly, out of seeing, sorting, building and comparing, long before it becomes sums on a page. We tend to rush children into adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing, which are not the most natural things for a young mind. These puzzles are my way of slowing down: a wide range of thinking with shapes, logic and patterns, before the numbers and alongside them. That idea has been at the heart of my teaching.
How the puzzles are made
For years I used worksheets from all over the internet, some paid, some free. Many came from KrazyDad, whose free puzzles were a big inspiration. I never had the time or energy to program my own.
Then I started working with Claude, an AI assistant made by Anthropic, and that barrier came down. I design the puzzles, check them and decide what goes out. Claude wrote most of the programs that make them, and it helps with research and with the words on this site.
Where it started
I first made the puzzles for my daughter and her friends. Then for a learning space where I volunteer and work, with children aged 6 to 19 from under-served and at-risk communities. Then for friends who kept asking me for the sheets. At some point I thought: if I'm building these anyway, I might as well put them online.
Who this is for
Families who want to sit with a child over a good puzzle. Teachers who want something different for the start of a lesson. And anyone who works with children in the not-for-profit space: if these puzzles would help the children you work with, please write to me. I'd like you to have them. (See also reduced and free access.)
Why it matters to me
Everyone is asking what children will need in a world of AI. I think the answer is to think, deeply and widely, about problems and about who we are. A puzzle on the kitchen table is a small place to start.
Vineesh
New here? Start here.
- No ads. Not on the site, not in the emails.
- Nothing about your child. Sign-up is for grown-ups, and we only ask for an email address.
- Free sheets stay free. Membership pays for the work and adds more.