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Fractal Kitty Meets Koch Snowflake

52 Weeks of Math Activities

Week 20: Angles within a circle

This week, learners can play with angles with both grand projects and smaller art projects. There are 360 degrees in a circle or 2pi radians. Learners can draw a circle and then mark every 20 degrees (or every 30 or any factor of 360). Factors: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5,

52 Weeks of Math Activities

Week 19: Math Haiku

Poetry forms are like puzzles. You have to take the words you want to say and rearrange them, find synonyms, and reformulate them until they can fit into a form. This problem-solving is so similar in math. One of the first forms to play with is the Haiku. It is

52 Weeks of Math Activities

Week 18: Castles, Maps and Spaceships – Let’s Draft

This week learners can dive deep into their imaginary worlds (or real world inventions). The project this week is to create a map, castle, spacecraft or invention. The math focus will be on developing a sense of scale. Younger learners may practice scale with proportions in their drawings. Older learners

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Fractal Kitty Teaches Biology…

52 Weeks of Math Activities

Week 17: Sierpinski in 3D Building Toys

This week, break out your blocks (or whatever building toy you enjoy). We are building a Sierpinski cube (Menger Sponge) or Sierpinski tetrahedron. I would also encourage learners to create their own shape and expand on it to create a self-similar sculpture or fractal (think about what each iteration would

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Coastline Paradox Meets Kitty

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

Miscellaneous - interviews, ideas, and more

KMUZ Poetry on the Air With the Family

KMUZ’s Steven Slemenda interviewed our family in a two part series for a wonderful program called Poetry on the Air. Thanks to KMUZ and Steve Slemenda for sharing. This show is in the archives on their website, and with permission I am posting it here. My children were appreciative of the experience

52 Weeks of Math Activities

Week 15: String Art

This is a classic, yet fun activity with math: * Start with a compass or protractor and create a circle with evenly spaced points around it. Students can figure out how many degrees need to be between points (example: if you want 10 points, then there are 36 degrees between each

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 […]

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It’s not just Coffee Cups…

alternate exterior angles

Angle Review sheet

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, a measurement device (ruler), and a timer. With these instruments, learners can investigate the relationship between distance and time as

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

52 Weeks of Math Activities

Week 10: Power of Two Tag

Tag is a great way to get moving, and it isn’t just for kids. I have had my highschool groups play with just as much zeal as the 5 year olds. For this week I encourage learners to create outdoor tag games that incorporate a mathematical concept. Here is

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

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

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

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The Zeno Catnap

52 Weeks of Math Activities

Week 6: Randomness using pi

This week, learners will create a work of art using pi. The goal here is not to understand pi, but to play with randomness. We will dive into the ratio of circumference and diameter another week. Pi’s decimals go on forever and without a pattern. Here are some ideas

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Differential vs. Integral Kitty

I have been reading Infinite Powers by Steven Strogatz as part of a twitter book club and decided to incorporate Fractal Kitty as I go through. This one is from the introduction. I really contemplated playing more with a comic for the Infinity Principle and still may.

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 out their story, create a stop animation, or

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Kitty likes Tau day…