After reflecting on my experience leading math circles for a group of 7- turning 8-year-old boys and girls, I found that there was often a disconnect between what I thought would interest them and what actually captured their attention. Some topics that I believed would catch their interest, such as game SET and geometry snacks, turned out to be flops. However, there were also surprising topics that they loved, like Knights and Knaves puzzles and propositional logic. Overall, I realized the importance of framing math problems in engaging stories to hold their interest, but I also have hope that they will eventually appreciate math for its own sake.
https://buttondown.email/j2kun/archive/thoughts-about-what-worked-in-math-circles/