Snowflake Symmetry and Patterns

Snow is a good reason to look closely at shapes. A real snow crystal grows with six sides or six arms, and the same arm pattern repeats around the center. This pack turns that idea into math children can draw, fold, cut, count and measure.

Children find the lines where a shape or a letter folds into matching parts, finish half-drawn designs on grid paper, and fold a paper circle into layers to cut a snowflake of their own. They count the sides and angles of hexagons, grow number and shape patterns from a rule, sort and tally snowflakes into a bar graph, and measure the arms of the snowflake they made to the nearest half inch and nearest centimeter. A partner game, a short check-up and a worked answer key finish the set.

Everything needs only paper, safety scissors, a ruler and pencils, and it works for a class, a small group or a family at a kitchen table. The notes give a plan in short sessions, a materials list, safety rules for cutting, and ways to make each page easier or harder for children in Grades 2, 3 and 4. Print in black and white on any printer. The free sample is the notes and the Complete the Pattern page.