Coffee Cups and Crayons posted a tape resist project using sidewalk chalk paint, a week or so ago. It looked like so much fun, I knew we were going to have to try it. As soon as I pulled out the chalk for the girls' starburst driveway drawings, and they started asking when we were going to make more chalk paint, the time seemed right to give it a try.
We pulled a shape from the Marshall Hampton's Mathematical Coloring Book , settling on an "orthogonal hypercube projection", because it while it was pretty, and looked like it would be fun to color in, it also looked like something we could manage to outline with masking tape. Basically it's just an octagon, filled in with eight squares coming off of each side.
I taped out a slightly lopsided octagon...
...and E (age 9) helped by marking 90° from each corner...
...for the squares.
...filling in the shapes. They were so intent on the squares, and triangles...
...they didn't even see the pretty star pattern emerging. Pretty enough in fact, to draw one of their older sisters out into the sun, to join them.
They ended up using the tape more as an outline, than a resist project, but still thought it was pretty cool, when we pulled the pieces away from the dry paint..
...revealing their design.
As it turns out, this particular shape is even more fun to model in 3D, than to color when it's flat.
You might want to gather a package of colored toothpicks, a bag of mini-marshmallows, and consider coming back tomorrow.
11 comments:
Beautiful!
Making it in 3-D will be such fun for you. We need to do that this summer, too. I used to teach a class that focused on building with gumdrops and toothpicks. Such fun.
This is AH-mazing- what an excellent way to practice Geometry!
This is fantastic! Your blog REALLY makes me want to homeschool...
Excellent job!
KUDOS!
Tell the kids that they are geometry geniuses!
That is so cool...and beautiful.
I repeat - you guys are doing the coolest things! I wish I had the nerve to 'almost unschool'. I guess it's a process we're moving slowly towards, but it appeals so much...
Thank you!!! We did this today and it was an awesome activity for a summer day and everyone now knows well what a 90-deg angle is, and enjoyed seeing the pattern emerge. And now the kids are smashing more chalk with a hammer!
So very very pretty. We need to drag out our chalk again while we're having a "cold snap" (it's only in the mid 80s).
How beautiful is that? I love the idea of using tape to outline the shape!
Is there any way you would let me use your finished product photo for some regional parenting magazine articles if my Sneak in Learning Over the Summer piece sells? You would get photo credit, of course!
Kerrie - That would be fine - thanks!
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