Why I Created Puzzles For Learning Maths

By Lilian Nyaranga

How it Started

My father was an avid newspaper reader, due to which newspapers were a permanent fixture in our home. As a young girl of about ten years old, I loved the children's magazine pull-outs found inside the Sunday newspapers. The puzzles inside these magazines enamoured me. My sister and I would fight over the crossword puzzle page in magazines. 

I loved learning about new words when filling in the crosswords. I remember pouring into the dictionary to look up vocabulary for solving the crossword puzzles (back then, there was no Google, so manually looking up words was the norm). 

Little did I know that this was to be the beginning of an adventure with puzzles that would span my entire childhood and adult life. 

I eventually progressed from the kids' magazines to the more challenging crossword puzzles in the daily newspapers. After that, my interest in mysteries grew to other types like; codeword, SolvIt, word search, you name it. I was becoming a puzzle "junkie" without realizing it. 

There were comical and weird moments in my quest to satisfy my puzzle-filling rituals. For instance, when I went around my neighbourhood asking for old newspapers with unfilled puzzles or when in the shop buying stuff and requesting a bewildered shopkeeper to wrap them using old newspapers with unfilled puzzles. I also recall the moment while working as a teacher, how I would rush to the library during break time to get my daily dose of puzzles and end up fully immersed to the point of almost being late for my lessons.

But the discovery of Sudoku was a game-changer for me, partly because of my love for numbers. Sudoku challenged me and helped me expand my thinking to levels I could never imagine. As a result, I now appreciate the lessons and skills I have learned over the years through solving Sudoku and other puzzles.

Lessons Learnt

Puzzles are not just for relaxation; they help exercise the brain, teach logic skills, and improve memory retention and critical thinking skills.

Additionally, here are some other vital life lessons I have learnt while filling out the puzzles:

•  All problems have solutions.

I have solved many puzzles, from simple to hard ones. I've learnt over time that no matter how complex a problem is, there is always a solution. I also know that there are different methods to arrive at the correct solution. Sometimes the answers are obvious; other times, you have to work hard to find them or seek help from others. 

•  Resilience pays in the long run.

Puzzles can prove to be a hard nut to crack, and this can be very discouraging and prompt one to give up. Many a time, I have thrown a puzzle away out of frustration for not getting a solution, only for me to look for it the following day to continue solving it. Solving tricky puzzles can be exciting and intimidating at the same time. The strategy I use is to examine the puzzle keenly and start with what I know. Sometimes, all you need is to make a small move, and boom, everything begins to unravel before your own eyes, and you realize it wasn't as challenging as you thought. 

Determination and persistence usually pay off in the long run. 

•  Working with others can make a complex problem simpler.

Yes, collaborating on a puzzle can also be fun. Many a time, I have solved crossword puzzles with friends or family members, and we ended up solving them faster.

•  It is okay to accept defeat and ask for help.

In a society where failure is frowned upon, it can be frustrating to try everything possible and still not find a solution. There are many puzzles that I have solved over time, but there are others that I have been unable to. I have learned that it is okay not to know everything. It is okay to seek help, make mistakes, and learn. 

•  Filling out puzzles can be therapeutic.

Many a time, I have used puzzles as a distraction during my low moments. The excitement in puzzles is in solving them. That feeling one gets after solving a given puzzle is priceless. When my mind is fully engrossed in finding solutions to the puzzle, my focus shifts away from my troubles. The thrill I get from solving the puzzle changes my mood for the better, and the problem is forgotten.

The Birth of AddSub and MulDi Puzzles

A few years back, I transitioned from being a teacher to starting my social enterprise, Elimu Shop. Our primary focus is to create gamified teaching and learning resources that make learning math and sciences for children. . As a math teacher, I had been thinking for many years about how I could make children enjoy math while learning simultaneously. So naturally, due to my love for puzzles, it was the first idea that sprung to my mind.

So, among the first projects that I embarked on was to develop math puzzles for children. First, I needed to figure out where to start; all I knew was that I wanted something fun and developed vital competency skills. My initial idea two years ago was to create simple puzzles for younger children. Since then, the puzzles have undergone many modifications and iterations, and the outcome is the creation of what is now gamified AddSub and MulDi puzzles.

The AddSub puzzle is derived from addition and subtraction operations, while the MulDi puzzle is derived from multiplication and division operations. The puzzles come in different difficulty levels to cater to all learners with varying learning abilities and ages. 

Published

This year, we published the first AddSub and MulDi puzzles. You can imagine my excitement when I saw the first AddSub, and MulDi puzzle printed books. It was a very emotional moment for me; okay, I cried. Never in my wildest imagination did I ever think that my childhood indulgence would lead to published puzzle books for children. I thank God for enabling this to happen. Indeed, I would not have done it without Him.

Besides being fun, these puzzles develop basic numeracy, critical thinking, logic, and problem-solving. These puzzles also build strong foundations in Algebra, an essential mathematical concept in school and beyond.

They are great fun for adults too! Hence, an excellent tool for families to bond as they solve puzzles together during family gatherings and a great way of offering breaks from TV and technology.

I hope children will be excited about working on these puzzles to improve their math skills. By solving these puzzles, they will also gain skills and values like resilience, collaboration, learning from failure, self-love, problem-solving, and critical thinking crucial for success in the real world.

Lilian Nyaranga is a former high school math and chemistry teacher, an Edtech enthusiast, a published author, a learning designer and a game-based learning developer. She is currently the Founder of Elimu Shop, an education company in Nairobi, Kenya, that creates innovative game-based teaching and learning resources that make learning math and sciences subjects fun.

Follow her on Facebook and  LinkedIn

Website: www.elimushop.com