Discover items, activities and books to teach kids about geometry and reasoning.
By Valerie Suttee, Branch Manager, Richard Byrd Library
Learning From the Natural World
According to Christy Knuchel in Teaching Symmetry in the Elementary Curriculum, “learning about symmetry gives children a good sense of geometric principles and calls on their mathematical reasoning abilities.” Springtime activities like hiking and gardening offer great opportunities for kids to explore symmetry in nature. Leaves, butterflies and other insects are natural examples of reflectional symmetry, also known as mirror symmetry. Something has reflectional symmetry if you can draw a line down the middle and see that both sides are mirror images of each other. That line is called the line of symmetry.
Activities to Explore Symmetry, Rain or Shine!
Take a Walk
Look for things in nature that have symmetry like leaves, insects or animals. Take pictures or make a list of the items you find.
Fly Paper Airplanes
Symmetry is very important when you fold a paper airplane. The more symmetrical and even everything is, the better the airplane will fly.
Read Reverso Poems
Created by Marilyn Singer, “a reverso is a poem with two halves. In a reverso, the second half reverses the lines from the first half, with changes only in punctuation and capitalization — and it has to say something completely different from the first half.”
Make a Symmetry Painting
Fold a piece of paper in half to make a crease down the middle. Open the paper back up and lay it flat. Place drops of paint on only one side of the line. Carefully fold the second half over the paint and press, squishing the paint across the folded paper. Open to reveal your symmetrical painting.
Bake a Pie
Cutting the pie into equal sections isn’t just fair — it’s symmetrical!
Children’s Books About Symmetry
Geometry Is as Easy as Pie by Katie Coppens
Seeing Symmetry by Loreen Leedy
Let's Fly a Kite by Stuart J. Murphy
Mirror Mirror: A Book of Reversible Verse by Marilyn Singer