Math in Art and Design

This week in class we focused on how we use math, especially geometry, in art and design. On Monday we read The Greedy Triangle, a book about shapes. After reading the book, we discussed the different types of shapes we saw in the story and recreated them using pretzel sticks. During our exploration, we discussed shape attributes such as angles and sides. We then went on a shape hunt, walking around the entire school looking for different shapes. The quadrilateral was definitely the most popular!

The next day we revisited shapes, this time using tangrams. We started off by reading Grandfather Tang’s Story, and we learned how tangrams are used to tell stories. Storytellers use them to create a picture to match their story. After creating our own pictures with tangrams, we put together an original story using all of the animals and objects that we created.

Our study of geometry continued, this time with an exploration of 3-dimensional shapes. We created our own 3-dimensional shapes, first with clay, and then using toothpicks and marshmallows! Who knew math could be so tasty!

Posted on June 29, 2007 11:40 AM | Permalink