Elementary Geometry - Seven Triangles of Reality

Early this week, my little one worked on seven types of triangles that exist.  We started with the three types of triangles based on sides – equilateral, isosceles, and scalene.  She constructed the triangles using geometry sticks. (Geometry stick material is really expensive and I cut these strips from foam).

She learned about angles and degrees a few weeks ago.  We reviewed it, made some triangles and identified the angles in the triangles- obtuse, right and acute angles.

 Then I told her to try all the possible combinations of equilateral, isosceles, and scalene and obtuse, right and acute angles. She tried on her own, found the possible combinations and labeled them.

She labeled these blue triangles as a practice.

DIY Foam Pattern Blocks

Pattern blocks are the favorite math manipulative of every child. It helps to teach kids about shapes, patterns, fractions, Tessellations, and much more.  Moreover, it engages children for hours as a quite time activity.

Generally, pattern blocks are made out of plastic or wood. But, I made my pattern blocks using foam. All I needed were the templates, craft foam sheets and a pair of scissors.  It is very simple, cheap, and won’t make any noise while playing. Real pattern blocks come in standard colors – triangle-green, square-orange, rhombus-blue, thin rhombus-tan, trapezoid-red, and hexagon-yellow. As I didn’t have blue and tan, I used violet for rhombus and pink for thin rhombus.

You can download the pattern blocks templates from here and templates of pattern block mats from here

Here are some of the photos of my daughter’s creations.

RABBIT

 CAMEL

BABY

 GIRL

 

DOG

We both made few tessellations..