hands-on math

A collection of 50 posts

Additional Materials

Fantasy Map Drawing Video Post from This Week’s classes

This is a post for my students on fantasy map drawing from our virtual classes this week. The video was too long for youtube, so hopefully you can all grab it here. This isn’t pro-video content (so forgive my “ums” and roughness). It is intended to allow students to pause and go at their own […]

52 Weeks of Math Activities

Week 32: Isometric Drawing

Let’s get out our pencils, isometric paper, and thinking caps this week! Isometric drawings are often used in engineering and design as a way to display 3D ideas. They can also be used to create optical illusions and escheresque works of art. To start, print some isometric paper, or set your digital

52 Weeks of Math Activities

Week 31: Angle Inquiry

Sometimes the simplest things have wonder hidden within. This week, learners can play with the angles of polygons. How many degrees are in a triangle? In a quadrilateral? In a hexagon? Is there a pattern? Here is a warm-up activity: Draw a triangle (any triangle), and cut it out. Next, rip the corne

52 Weeks of Math Activities

Week 30: Coloring is not Just for Kindergarten

I am trying to tell my 15yr old daughter that an elective high school credit in Graph Theory would be fun next year. Of course I do this as subtly as possible – I start drawing coloring sheets for this post on my iPad and then carefully shade them in. All three of my children […]

52 Weeks of Math Activities

Week 29: Design a Game

This week learners can brainstorm game ideas and test them out with family and friends. Games can be prototyped with paper, clay, cardboard, maker equipment, and/or craft supplies. When I do this with classes, we often play or analyze games that we love prior to designing our own. This allows learne

52 Weeks of Math Activities

Week 28: Apollonian Gaskets

Apollonian Gaskets are a creative way to play with circles, fractals, and mindfulness in math. Students can cut out circles and place them within circles or practice their drafting skills with a compass and ruler. The idea is to draw a large circle and then fit smaller and smaller circles inside as

52 Weeks of Math Activities

Week 27: Patterns in the Paper Weaving

I love fiber arts and weaving. So, I have one more weaving post for this series, but this time it’s with paper. This activity is great for all ages and can be done with ribbon, bias tape or strips of paper. I like to use origami paper strips. The idea here is to play with […]

52 Weeks of Math Activities

Week 26: Musical Math

You don’t have to be a musician to play with music and math. This week, I encourage learners to experiment with sound and patterns. Below is a list of ideas to experiment with: Create a rhythm as an individual or a class that follows a sequence and build on it, (drums can be hands on […]

Makings

Makings: Wave Pendulum

I have decided to start a new category on this blog for my “makings” – items and projects that I have designed/created for classroom use, art, fiber musings, or just because. Today I decided to create an easy to store, easy to demonstrate, easy to build wave pendulum. I’ve built these in STEM classe

52 Weeks of Math Activities

Week 25: Loopy Doodle Math

Doodling and math? Yes, we can play with doodles and see what patterns emerge. Finding patterns and problem-solving is a big part of math. For this week’s hands-on-math, learners are going to draw a loopy doodle where they start and end at the same point without lifting the pencil (or pen). Try to m

52 Weeks of Math Activities

Week 24: Pastel Diagrams and Plots

Sometimes math diagrams, plots, and examples can be a little dry in our books and on the board. This week learners will be taking a diagram or plot that they want to improve upon and sketch it up with pastels, paints, or other media. Color, composition, and artistic embellishments can be added while

52 Weeks of Math Activities

Week 23: Fibonacci Weaving

If I am not playing with math, then I am tangled in yarn and thinking about math. This week I combined the two and wove A small fibonacci washcloth. Fiber arts are so versatile and an insanely fun way to express mathematics. In future weeks we will look at collage (wool applique), Cantor art, etc. [

52 Weeks of Math Activities

Week 22: Tessellations – Paper Method

This week we will do tessellations that fit together through translation (moving without rotation). We will look at reflection and rotation in other weeks. There are a few different ways to do this, but we will use the paper method today. I always start the class by talking about what different kind

52 Weeks of Math Activities

Week 16: Geometric Sketching – Hummingbird

I love to incorporate drawing skills into math education. This week I encourage learners to start seeing birds (or other animals/people) as shapes. Heads are circles, torsos are ellipses, beaks are triangles, wings are long ellipses… Sketching is a skill. A skill is something that you can master in

52 Weeks of Math Activities

Week 14: Guess the rule – math game

One of my hobbies is to take completely non-math related games and modify them for classes. I don’t know what to call this game, it is probably a variation of “psychiatrist” or something, but here is how it goes: In a group of at least 4 players, ask one player to leave the room and […]

52 Weeks of Math Activities

Week 13: Clay Möbius Strips

There are lots of amazing paper Möbius strips that are fun. You can cut down the middle, twist multiple times, make a Möbius paper chain, and try it with various materials. For a basic paper tutorial, I found a good one here. Rather than creating the classic paper strips, this week learners will be

52 Weeks of Math Activities

Week 12: Galileo and Gravity

This week we are going to take a look at applied math. Learners will be given a ramp (this can be a ruler), a ball that fits on the ramp, measurement device (ruler) and a timer. With these instruments learners can investigate the relationship between distance and time as the ball rolls down the ramp

52 Weeks of Math Activities

Week 11: Soma Cubes

I love Martin Gardner’s work and books that brought math to so many people in a fun and engaging way. One of the topics he covered was Soma Cubes. This week learners can create and play with this wonderful seven piece puzzle that was invented by Mr. Piet Hein during a lecture on physics. I […]

52 Weeks of Math Activities

Week 9: Dragon Curve

The Dragon Curve is a fractal that is well explained in this numberphile video. This week learners can create a dragon curve with a strip of paper, Lux Blox, Python programing, Legos or toothpicks. Paper: For paper, I would suggest using a strip of thin paper. Thicker paper doesn’t produce as many f

52 Weeks of Math Activities

Week 8: Density Through Pointillism

This week we are going to look at density in a two-dimensional sense. The idea is to create two dimensional images using various densities of points. The medium and approach can vary for the classroom. Some ideas are: Sand art on a stick surface using different densities of sand (try light colored s

52 Weeks of Math Activities

Week 7: Cartesian Coordinates

This week learners can get hands on with plotting. I encourage learners to investigate the history behind the Cartesian Coordinates (it’s interesting – I was just reading about it in Infinite Powers by Steven Strogatz). The idea is to plot with D&D figures, chalk, legos, or watercolors. Make art out

52 Weeks of Math Activities

Week 5: Tell a Tale (or comic)

No matter what grade/age, stories are fun. This week I encourage learners to read and write math stories. Take a concept and illustrate it through the art of story. Write comics, picture stories, murder mysteries, fantasies, plays, etc. Students can act their story out, create a stop animation, or i

52 Weeks of Math Activities

Week 4: Polyhedra Study

Leonardo da Vinci was an amazing mathematician, inventor and artist. His sketches in The Divine Proportion are a wonderful collection to study. Spacial awareness and being able to draw what we see is a skill that can be mastered through practice. This week, I encourage learners to sketch polyhedra f

52 Weeks of Math Activities

Week 3: Sonobe Octahedron

Octahedrons are such a fun shape. This week we are going to learn an important fold in origami that can be used to make so many mathematical shapes, puzzles and works of art. We are going to learn Sonobe. Below is a video of how to create the basic fold and then assemble the octahedron. […]

52 Weeks of Math Activities

Week 1: Embroider Curves with Lines

Welcome to 52 weeks of math! I will be posting a new activity every Wednesday for 52 weeks of hands-on math. Week 1 is one of my favorites – drawing with thread. In this activity, learners will play with their rulers (or thread) to create curves with lines. The idea is to have students draw […]