For years I have put pattern blocks in front of my kids only to have them slide all over the place on the block puzzle sheets. I had a DUH moment and finally gave them a magnet board (this could be a cookie sheet) to STICK the puzzle on while they used MAGNETIC pattern blocks
to complete the puzzle. My son explored symmetry in the process. One page asked him to complete patterns "so that the dotted line becomes a Line of Symmetry." You'll see (right) that he made a lovely pattern WITH symmetry, but didn't pay attention to the dotted line/line of symmetry. We had a good discussion about "line of symmetry" and used a ruler to help (below.) This was a nice extension to our symmetry lessons with Magic Mirrors that I'll show you later this week.
Note on materials: I own several different pattern block books: Pattern Block Problems for Primary People
, Patternables
and Magnetic Pattern Blocks
. (That last one should have given me a clue!) I took all the pages out of the first two books, slipped each page into a plastic sleeve, and put them all into a 3-ring binder. This allows multiple children to use materials at once; I just pull out a page or two at a time.
. Each left page says, "I spy with my little eye" and names a particular shape: a square, a circle, a rectangle, a triangle, etc. Toward the end of the book, shapes are 3-D: cylinder, cube, cone, etc. Each right page then shows a major work of art (think Matisse, O'Keeffe, Warhol, Escher, etc) in which the named shape can be found. Some are rather obvious, while others need a little searching. Interestingly enough, sometimes my 4yo found the shapes before my 8yo.
. The original activity (p. 17) calls for children to create primary color abstract paintings using tools. This is what we did instead:
to the class after spending some time talking about degrees and doing a little exploration* with angles and protractors. In the story, three hamsters attempt a daring series of stunts, measuring degrees on a car ramp that sends them flying through the air. The cat promises not to chase them as long as he doesn't get bored. They taunt him with larger and larger angles until they eventually reach 180 degrees and speed away from him.
.)
for Christmas. Looking around on Christmas morning, however, you would have had a hard time figuring out who actually owned the blocks. My 20 and 16 yo daughters were the first to take the plunge. Here are some of the many creations from the past couple days...
for his birthday. It's a 3-D puzzle with small groups of cubes stuck together in a variety of shapes. You receive a deck of cards with puzzles to make using the cube formations. It's a challenging activity to work on spatial relationships. My 8yo found it too difficult. We've set it aside for the time being, but I am looking forward to using it in a couple years when it will be a good next step up from geoblocks and some of the other geometric puzzles we own. With it's own little carrying bag for the pieces and the deck of card puzzles, it would make an excellent math workbox for older kids...say 10- or 12- and up...or younger kids who are spatially gifted. One Amazon reviewer noted that it's also a good activity to try to solve as a group.
is really cheap today. We play that game with my 8yo a lot...good for simple addition/subtraction practice.
. My older kids memorized this poem when they were little. Now I'm working on it with my younger two. The book itself is gorgeous and one that we pull out and read several times each winter.
and tell them to begin with a relatively flat structure...more picture-like than building-like.
from 
. (This book, published in 1978, as part of the Childcraft series, has many interesting stories, puzzles, and activities. You can often find it cheap!)
on the magnetic board, traced it, rotated, and asked the kids to stop me each time the block fit into the frame. They became very good at identifying the order of rotation and the number of lines of symmetry!
. 
