This oil resist Escher tessellation art is a great way to combine science, art, and math into one masterful STEAM activity for kids!
Tessellation is a repeating pattern of the same shapes without any gaps or overlaps. These patterns are found in nature, used by artists and architects and studied for their mathematical properties.
Once upon a time (in my first year of teaching), I taught a tessellation project to my 4th grade students. Just like any good fairy tale, at some point things took a turn for the worse. As great as some of the projects turned out, I was exhausted by the amount of hovering it required me to do as a teacher and left me yearning for a different project. But again, just like any good fairy tale, this story has a happy ending... After taking a 3 year break from tessellations, I have finally made my comeback with an awesome tessellation project for my 5th grade students. Yayyyy! I started this project by showing my students an awesome PowerPoint that I put together that explains exactly what a tessellation is, some famous examples from history, and then differentiates between the 3 major types of tessellations: translations, rotations, and reflections. After showing them the PowerPoint, I gave each of my tables a basket that contained a few 3"x3" pieces of tagboard, a written set of directions (in case students get confused), scissors, and tape. Then I showed them step-by-step how to create a translation tessellation piece using my document camera (see the directions to the left). **A trick that I used this time teaching was to have students draw their shape from one corner to the adjacent corner. That way they don't have to worry about lining up the cut-out piece directly across from the original cutout.. you just have to line it up on the side. (This sounds confusing.. just look at my visual below.) Once students finished creating their own pieces, I passed out large sheets of scrap paper and had them practice making tessellations with their piece. This was their opportunity to make sure that their piece was properly crafted and that it would work. This was also a great opportunity for me to be able to walk around and assist those that found that their piece wasn't working. Once they verified that their pattern piece would work, I asked them to turn their piece around and see if they could see something that they could make their shape into (some type of character or monster). Monsters are honestly the easiest to do because, as I explained to my students, you can take any type of blob shape and slap some eyes on it and call it a monster (just being real). :) Once my students knew what they were going to make their shape into, I gave them a sheet of 9"x9" white drawing paper to use for their final project. I advised my students to use the original edges of their tessellation piece to help them to line up their shape on their sheet of paper. Even though this cuts off part of the piece, it really does help to make sure that everything stays properly aligned. I also explained to them that just because you can't see the whole shape, doesn't mean that they shouldn't add the additional details they were planning to add for their character - they just need to add what they can see. Once their pencil drawing was done (including adding details), students were asked to outline everything with a sharpie marker, and then add color with either crayons or color sticks. Many of my students decided to take their tessellation patterns and make each shape into its own character in a series (instead of just repeating the same thing over and over). Doing that really helped to keep more of my kids engaged in finishing their project because it made it a little more creative and a little less repetitive. If you are interested in this lesson, I have an incredibly awesome package posted up in my store. Seriously.. it has EVERYTHING. Included in the package: 1. Tessellation PowerPoint: An introduction to what tessellations are, a brief history, M.C. Escher (with a link to a interview he did), his influences, his artwork, and the three main types of transformations used in making tessellations – translation, rotation, and reflections. This PowerPoint includes animated slides, which make it easier for students to visualize the shape’s movements. 2. Color Your Own Worksheets: Grid-filled pages that students can demonstrate how to draw translation, rotation, and reflection tessellations on. 3. Practicing Transformations Worksheet: Worksheet asks students to reflect specific shapes over horizontal and vertical axes, translate shapes, and rotate shapes. 4. Step-by-Step Direction Sheets: Three step-by-step instruction sheets with visuals showing how to create stencils for all three transformations. These instructions also match up with the included videos, which also demonstrate how to create them step-by-step. 5. Practice Tessellation Sheet: This page includes the base stencil for all three transformations shown in the videos and step-by-step sheets. 6. Transformation Videos: 3 videos demonstrating how to create a reflection tessellation, translation tessellation, and rotation tessellation (including how to do a graphite transfer or light table/window transfer for complex details). Also available in my Teachers Pay Teachers store.
Bring art and math together with this fun tessellation art project. It’s a great way to explore patterns, tiling, and geometry!
Paper Mosaic Patterns Printable is a collection of artistic and intricately designed patterns that can be easily printed and used for creating beautiful mosaic artworks. This resource is perfect for craft enthusiasts, art teachers, and anyone who enjoys expressing their creativity through paper crafts. With a wide variety of patterns available, individuals can explore different themes and techniques, adding a unique touch to their projects.
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A creative and educational STEAM project that incorporates math and art. What are tessellations and how to create a simple tessellation.
Start with a square. Cut the top and add to the right (90 degrees). Cut the bottom and add to the left (90 degrees). Trace your design on paper and rotate! Click here to see how to create a translation tessellation
Bring art and math together with this fun tessellation art project. It’s a great way to explore patterns, tiling, and geometry!
M.C. Escher instructional worksheet for advanced tessellation design and 2 pages of examples. I found that the basic tessellation was... well, too simple! I wanted to challenge my older students and they succeeded. The trickiest part is making your template shape and I couldn't find a decent instruction sheet so I made my own. I use this along with my study on Optical Illusions worksheets and my Art & Geometry/Math: M.C. Escher Drawing Impossible Shapes & Tessellations *********************************************************************** Hope Creek Studios specializes in Art Studio and History, Photography and Graphic Design lessons and creative aids. Click here to see MORE STUDIO ART worksheets, lessons, & creative aids in our TPT store! FOLLOW ME to get FREEBIES to your email from Hope Creek Art Studios *********************************************************************** Let's Connect www.HopeCreekAcres.com Pinterest Facebook Instagram ********************************************************************** © 2023 Hope Creek Art Studios/Hope Creek Acres ® ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
Tumbler scrap quilt of many cotton prints, about 1880-1900 One of the reasons I've been indexing charm patterns or tessellations is that I am looking for a charm quilt pattern for my never-ending hand sewing project---some kind of a tessellation, a single pattern piece. My criteria: It has to work easily into a 90 degree quilt. I am too geometrically challenged for the alternatives. I can chat and sew (even drink wine and sew) and not have to rip. So I am exploring geometry---the only school subject I ever got a D in. First I looked at BlockBase, my digital pattern program. I sorted out the regular quadrilaterals---parallelograms with 90 degree angles--- at this post. http://barbarabrackman.blogspot.com/2015/08/tessellations-2-four-sided-shapes.html I am thinking about irregular four-sided shapes. Trapezoids A trapezoid, they tell me on the internet, is a "quadrilateral with at least one pair of parallel sides." The rule is: Any quadrilateral will tessellate. BlockBase #151a There are two trapezoids under One Patches in BlockBase. The Ladies' Art Company named #151 "Tumbler" when they published a pattern in 1898. Quilters had been piecing the design for several years by then. Another published name: "Out Of This World" from the Laura Wheeler pattern source at the Old Chelsea Station post office (OCS) in the 1930s. Tumbler quilt dated 1876. The pattern was popular about the time of our Centennial celebration. The trapezoid can be tall or squat Above and below detail of a charm quilt from about 1900 Another squat tumbler shape. Easy to cut because the ends are 45 degree angles. Any rectangle cut on two sides with this angle would work--- Say a package of Union Blues Layer Cakes first cut into two rectangles, then cut and shaded like this quilt from about 1900. This proportion was most popular with quilters about 1870-1920... ---particularly for scrappy quilts or charm quilts with no two pieces alike The way you shade the tumblers and stagger the rows makes a difference. Tumbler by Irene Goddard Walker, late 19th century, found in the Massachusetts Quilt Project. Picture from the Quilt Index. A tumbler can be seen as half of a six-sided shape. You can shade the fabrics to make long hexagons. Sort of like this. Moonlight quilt kit using Kaffe Fassett fabrics from Cotton Patch UK. I noticed in EQ7 that there is a Quilt Layout button that would be quite useful in planning a Tumbler quilt. In "New Quilt" you are offered several options on how to set your blocks, including the one with the red arrow One Patch Quilt. I always assumed that was just hexagons. But I saw a tip that told me to look into the One Patch Menu and here is one under Patch Style called Trapezoid. You can sketch your tumbler quilt in Alice's Scrapbag or any fabrics you like. But more important---it can do the math for you in figuring out sizes. I did my sketch with a 3 x 2 inch shape because I wanted to cut it out of a 2-1/2" strip, a Moda Jelly Roll. You could plan a 2" x 6 1/2" trapezoid, which would mean cutting 7" trapezoids from 2-1/2" strips. Adjusting the slider at the bottom gives you any proportion you like. The other pattern in BlockBase is the trapezoid set like this (#152a) You can view the larger unit as a triangle or a hexagon. Same pattern; shaded differently Here the trapezoid tessellates into a familiar six-sided shape---a regular hexagon. In 1882 the English needlework writers Caulfeild and Seward named the pattern Right Angle Patchwork---an unfortunate choice as I see no right angles in the whole design. Inner City by Jinny Beyer, 1980 A very important late 20th century quilt Below are just a few of the trapezoids that are not in BlockBase because I never saw them published for quilters. But they are possibilities for charm quilts. A right trapezoid on the left and then an obtuse trapezoid on the right. Talk about obtuse. Is this the charm quilt of my dreams?
Step by step instructions for an easy cat tessellation to explore how math and art create interesting and beautiful patterns.
A tessellation is a collection of shapes that fill a paper with no overlaps and no gaps. I like the math and artistic skills they require, and am happy to say that this design is my very own. 1.
This flower tessellation activity for kids combines art and math! Print the flower template, color the flowers, cut them out, and assemble the tessellation.
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Sixth grade is working on the concept of Tessellation. A tessellation is a pattern that interlocks in some way. The patterns we are doing are not true tessellations, but are extremely fun, just the same! Each student received a planning paper to design four different patters. Using a ruler, marks are placed on all four sides of each 3"X3" square on the planning paper. A design is created in the square that only touches the sides at the designated spots. After tracing one of the patterns onto a separate 3"X3" paper, the student then tests the pattern to see if all sides match up. If all went well, the student can then trace the pattern again on 8 more squares. As you can see by the images at the top, rotating the squares in various formations will result in many different overall patterns. Escher and Tessellation The most famous artist who did tessellation was M. C. Escher. Here are some examples of tessellation done by Escher. Islamic Mosaics Islamic Mosaics is another connection to this assignment. In the Islamic culture, images of people are forbidden. Instead, beautifully scripted sayings are interspersed with mosaic tessellations as decorations in homes, shops, and mosques. Below are some examples.
Heart Tessellation Pattern
We’re back with another STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art, and math) series! This time it’s Summer STEAM Camp. We will be joining up with some other fabulous bloggers over the next few weeks to bring you simple STEAM projects centered around the five senses. This week’s theme is SEE. I decided to explore tessellations. A […]
Guest post by Emily Grosvenor. June 17 marks World Tessellation Day, a holiday I created to bring awareness to the fun of finding and making tessellations. Will you celebrate with us? Here are 10 g…
my daughter brought home this fun artwork she did in math class...They were learning about tessellation and this is where I pretend to know something about math...which I do not. (i had to google tessellations)
Start with a square. Cut the top and add to the right (90 degrees). Cut the bottom and add to the left (90 degrees). Trace your design on paper and rotate! Click here to see how to create a translation tessellation
