I have TWO awesome announcements to make this week!

First of all, my friend Kyle DeBoer has started a fantastic Instagram account, @ofmathandmeeples. I am already really impressed with the way he is using the account to share math games ideas - definitely give him a follow.

I also have a great card game for parents and teachers that my kids have really been enjoying. I like the game because it scales up to a group of any size, and older kids can find more inventive solutions as their mathematical sophistication grows.

It's called Proof!

It's my favorite time of year! The time when friends, family, and coworkers start texting me, asking for gift ideas. "Hey, Kent, I have a niece who is in 2nd grade, what game should I get for her?"

Longtime readers of Games for Young Minds know that I've made a habit of creating gift guides for the holidays (here is last year's, for example). Below, you'll find two recommendations for each age group. Some of the games are more explicitly mathematical than others, but all the games involve the sort of math reasoning and spatial thinking that helps kids grapple with new math material.

Were your kids interested in the election? Mine sure were. And even if they weren't old enough to appreciate the issues at play, there was still plenty to talk about - the Electoral College, the houses of Congress, and all sorts of other topics that piqued my kids' interest.

Of course, they were already interested because of my (late, lamented) run for city council this summer. Since then, I had been on the lookout for a board game that had an election-based theme. And I found a fun one! It's a gerrymandering game called Mapmaker.

About a year ago, I shared a Kickstarter campaign on this newsletter. The game, developed by Federico Chialvo, was a fantastic melding of tic-tac-toe and multiplication that turned out to be far deeper and more interesting than I had expected. Fortunately, the Kickstarter was funded, so Federico got to work putting the game into production.

And now, the moment I've been waiting for is finally here! And I'm so thrilled that y'all finally get to play a game that I think is an absolute must-have for any upper-elementary kid or classroom.

The game is called MULTI.

This Labor Day weekend my son turned 8, and we celebrated the best way we knew how - out at the lake, grilling and swimming and playing backyard games.

When we got back in town, J got to open his presents, which included more than a couple board games. He immediately gravitated toward one game in particular. I don't know if he was drawn to the artwork or the sense of danger and risk-tasking, but I'm glad he was! This game has turned into a big hit around the household. Even my 5 year old daughter likes to play, as long as a parent is there to give her some advice.

The game is called Dragonwood.