Whether you’re searching for a unique gift for the holiday season, or just looking for a quirky present to give to the maths fan in your life, check out this essential list of cool maths related gifts. (The links in this guide take you to Amazon.com. If you do purchase from them, I get a very small commission which helps me continue to offer to you all the free content at Maths Insider!)
Secrets of Mental Math:The Mathemagician’s Guide to Lightning Calculation and Amazing Math Tricks
Arthur Benjamin, is a mathemagician who has entertained audiences around the world both live and through his entertaining mathemagic performance at TED. He’s teamed up with Michael Shermer to reveal in this easy to read book, some of the secrets behind his lightening fast maths tricks! Buy Secrets of Mental Math for $10.
Math Doesn’t Suck: How to Survive Middle School Math Without Losing Your Mind or Breaking a Nail
Danica McKellar’s “Math Doesn’t Suck Book” is a hip guide to maths for preteen and teen girls. Written in a fun and engaging style, it’ll make a great gift even for girls who have maths at the bottom of their list of favourite subjects! Math Doesn’t Suck is on sale for around $8 (a great 63% discount!)
Mummy Math: An Adventure in Geometry
Great for fun for kids aged 7+, the Mummy Math book takes kids on a maths adventure, where they use their geometry skills to solve clues leading to the secret burial chamber; “Matt, Bibi, and their dog Riley crawled through the tiny opening first. FWUMP! A secret door suddenly closed behind them . . .” Mummy Math is great value at just $7.
LeapFrog LeapPad Explorer Learning Tablet
The hottest educational toy of this holiday season, this cool kids tablet has been dubbed “an iPad for kids.” Apps can be downloaded from the Leapfrog App Center, including maths games which adapt to your child’s ability. Parents can also track their child’s progress using the online parent’s dashboard. For more details and features, read this full LeapPad Explorer review. You can pick up the LeapPad Explorer Tablet for $99.
Brain Quest for the Nintendo DS: Grades 5 & 6
If the child in your life already has or is about to be given a Nintendo DS, grab this Brain Quest game, which covers English, geography, (US) history, science and of course maths! Your child will love the brain-twisting Hot Swap Multiplayer quiz games featuring both versus and cooperative games. The Brain Quest game costs around $37
Brilliant Minds Montessori Math Kit
This beautifully crafted Montessori maths kit contains instructions and worksheets on CD as well as these classic Montessori materials. Great for hands on maths learning! Get inspired by checking out the photos on Amazon of kids actually using the equipment. This luxury Montessori Math Kit is $150.
Equate: The Equation Thinking Game
An algebraic version of Scrabble. A nice way to introduce older children to the concept of equations and algebra. “Learn simple stuff (like what division is) and more sophisticated ideas (like the order of precedence among arithmetic operations).” We’ve got this in our house, and I can testify that this is much more fun than a workbook full of questions! You can share Equate for $20.
Painless Addition Placemat
Another pick directly from the Maths Insider toy cupboard. I had to grab these double sided addition placemats when I saw them at the toy store on a recent trip! Let your kids absorb their maths facts as they play or eat on the mat, or grab a dry wipe to do some drills on the reverse. Math fun on a budget for only $4.50
Cutie Pi Baby Bodysuit
Oh my! This is too cute! I’ve seen some clever mathsy body suits with lots of equations on them, but this simple statement trumps them all! Brainwash the babies in your network into some early maths loving! Available for $16.50.
Bamboo Pocket Snaps Cloth Diaper/ Nappy – OS – MATH Prints
These math diapers are another cute math gift for the youngest members of your network. The waterproof diapers come with snap front poppers which make the waist adjustable, so one size fits all. Another great value maths gift at $12.
Pi By Numbers – Women’s T-shirt
This pi women’s cut T-shirt would make a cool gift for a maths teacher, and it’s made of pre shrunk cotton too! The pi symbol is made up of the actual digits of pi (no- not all of them!). This math cool T-shirt is $20.
Math Equations Silk Tie
This 100% silk tie has advanced math equations and terminology printed horizontally down the length of the tie. Another cool maths garment and potential teacher gift. This math tie is priced at $40
Whimsical Watches Unisex G0640007 Math Teacher Red Leather Watch
If you look closely, you’ll see that under the casing, this unisex watch actually contains a hand crafted miniature calculator, protractor, pair of compasses, notebook, eraser and star. It also comes as a men’s or ladies version. A fab time-telling gift for fab maths teachers, this watch is retailing at $45
Fibonacci Fractal Chaos Math Pewter Pendant Necklace
My fantastic departmental head at the first school I taught at, had the most amazing collection of quirky earrings! I’m not sure if there’s an earring version of this pewter Fibonacci Pendant Necklace but this still makes a nice gift for us lady mathematicians. This Hypo-allergenic Fibonacci pendant is on sale for around $13.
Funny Math Car Sticker
If you’re looking for a gift for someone who’s a fan of witty car stickers, then this die-cut car sticker would make a cool low price gift retailing at just $5.
MATH pop QUIZ Clock NOVELTY 
With an 11.5″ diameter, this medium sized math clock contains enough high school math to get keep all but the most math phobic happy. The answers to the sums determine the hour. Made from lightweight black matte metal, this Math Clock is a great buy at $23.
Gourmet Chocolate Pi Math Symbol
You can’t go far wrong by combining math and chocolate in my eyes! Enclosed in the super shiny wrapper, you get ¼ pound of smooth gourmet milk chocolate in the shape of the cool mathematical symbol, pi. This yummy bar of Gourmet Math Chocolate is now half price at $9.99.
Kikkerland Chocolate Bar Calculator
So it’s not actually chocolate. In fact this rugged solar panel imitation chocolate calculator is made of flexible silicon. Presented in a gold seal wrapper, this chocolate calculator retails for a very reasonable $6.49
Get more Amazon maths recommendations at the Maths Insider Amazon Store
Which is your favourite gift on this list? Don’t forget to click like below and share this math gift guide with your friends. Who knows what you might get in return?
There is so much stuff on there that I want, it’s not even funny. Especially the pi shirt, and the clock. PLEASE SANTA!!! I’ve been REALLY good this year!!!!
I’m with you on that! I love lots of those gifts, but would feel odd buying them for myself. Maybe we should add the post on our email signatures as a big hint!
Oh wow, I know exactly what I’m getting my nephew for Christmas. The Leappad is cheap enough but still really memorable with long use value I think.