Puzzles and games
Campers work with playful problems that invite strategy, persistence, and surprise.
August 10-14, 2026
A small August math camp in Portland.
The Number Garden is launching a week of playful, rigorous mathematics for children who like puzzles, games, patterns, strategy, and beautiful questions worth lingering over.
What Camp Feels Like
Joyful math with real depth.
This is not a worksheet camp or a race through school topics. Campers will spend the week exploring rich mathematical invitations: puzzles, games, patterns, strategy, visual structure, and problems with room for many kinds of thinkers.
Patterns and structure
We look for what changes, what stays the same, and what might be true beneath the surface.
Conversation and conjecture
Children learn to notice, explain, test ideas, revise, and listen to one another.
Groups
Two age bands, one week.
Ages 6-10
A morning group from 9-11am, built around playful entry points, mathematical games, patterns, and shared discovery.
Ages 11-15
An afternoon group from 1-4pm, with deeper challenges, richer strategy, and more room to pursue ideas in depth.
Small by design
The camp will be intentionally small so the work can feel personal, social, and responsive to the children in the room.
Who It Is For
For many relationships to math.
This camp can be a fit for children who already love puzzles and want more challenge. It can also be a fit for children who need a warmer, more playful experience of mathematics than school has offered them.
The common thread is curiosity: a willingness to try, notice, wonder, explain, and stay with an interesting problem.
August Camp Interest
Want to hear when enrollment opens?
Join the list and I will send the next update as camp details and enrollment take shape. You can also email directly with age, availability, or fit questions.