Exploring Symmetry with Art

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Getting hands on with an activity at home, is a great way to support your child when they are learning new concepts in school. My 8 year old son has been learning about symmetry during his maths lessons, so we decided to explore symmetry in one of our after school art projects to help reinforce what he has been learning.

exploring symmetry with art

Activities for 2nd Grade Kids

Our final topic of the year from the 2nd Grade Blogging Team is Gratitude. As we don’t celebrate Thanksgiving over here in Ireland, we are sharing an art project, which we are going to be using as the base for my son’s birthday thank you cards. We think that it is very important to express our gratitude to somebody when they have taken the time to send a gift. Sending back a home made card is a lovely way for kids to express thanks for something that they have received.

Related Post: Easy Painting Projects for Kids

What is Symmetry?

When something is symmetrical this means that it is exactly the same on either two sides facing each other or around an axis.

I let Liam have a go at explaining this to his younger brother Freddie (6) to help reinforce what he has already been learning in school. He did a really good job and followed this up by showing Freddie how to complete the Symmetrical Mittens project that he had done in school as part of his work on symmetry.

How to make Symmetrical Mittens

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  • Fold a sheet of paper in half and draw around just one hand. Remember you are making mittens, so hold the fingers together rather than tracing around each one.
  • Cut around the mitten shape with a pair of scissor and you will now be left with two identical mitten shapes.
  • Use q-tips to paint exactly the same pattern onto each of the mittens.

exploring symmetry with art 1

Symmetrical Squish Painting

This is another good way to demonstrate symmetry in action.

  • Take a sheet of paper and fold it in half.
  • Paint just one side of the paper using q-tips.
  • Fold the paper over and squish it down.
  • You will be left with exactly the same pattern on each side of the paper.

exploring symmetry with art 1

We plan to fold these paintings in half and turn them into Thank You cards for my son to send to family who sent him some lovely birthday presents recently.

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exploring symmetry with art

How to make Symmetrical Butterfly

For our final symmetrical art project, we had a go at making a butterfly. Liam had learnt in  school that the butterfly is the most symmetrical of animals. It has the exact same pattern on each of its two wings, so this was another good way to reinforce what he had been learning in school.

  • Cut a paper plate into two and shape into butterfly wings.
  • Use q-tips to paint both side of the plate with exactly the same pattern to make it symmetrical.
  • Glue the two sides together along with a popsicle stick down the centre to make the butterflies body.

exploring symmetry with art

 

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Here is what the rest of the 2nd Grade Blogging Team are sharing this week on the theme of Gratitude:

School Snippets have been writing Thanksgiving Acrostic Poems.
Thriving STEM have been using an Obstacle Course to give thanks.
Creative Family Fun are sharing some Gratitude Conversation Starters.

85 Imaginative play ideas for kids

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