If you’re looking to introduce symmetry whether roational, reflectional, or point of symmetry, this is a fun game that kids of all ages and grades can play. It is a geometry dice game twist to the classic paper snowflake art craft!
Supplies needed to make geometry snowflakes
- At least 3 dice of different colors
- Pair of scissors
- Square pieces of paper
- Colored pencils or other coloring utensils.
- Ruler
- Protractor and Compass Optional
Learning objectives for Snowflake Geometry Dice Game
This lesson is appropriate for multiple age ranges. The images you see were done with a 4 and 7 year old, but the concepts can be adapted for middle and high school or just for a fun family or classroom project.
- Students will be able to identify and create basic geometric shapes.
- Students will be able to apply understanding of symmetry and spatial awareness to either draw or cut half shapes.
- Students will be able to explain how every shape displays symmetry wither rotational or mirror image.
- Students will be able to interpret and apply key code in order to draw specific shapes and colors.
- Students will be able to justify their designs by proving each shape falls along at least two lines of symmetry.
How to Play DIY Geometry Dice Game to teach symmetry and geometric shapes
Make a key on a piece of paper to go with each individual color of dice. For us, we had white, red, and green dice. The white die represented what color was to be used that turn. The green indicated how many and the red determined what shape was to be drawn.
1-6 for colors was Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Purple. 1-6 in numbers was as it showed. And 1-6 in shape was based on how many side the shape had or strokes it took to make, except for 2. So we did Circle, Free Draw, Triangle, Square, Pentagon, and Hexagon.
Fold your paper in half 3 times so that there are three foldable lines of symmetry.
The rules of the game are simple:
Roll and draw shapes based on the key. Make sure that all shapes drawn pass at least 2 lines of symmetry.
The shapes can be different sizes in the same turn, as long as they follow the other two rules.
For instance, if I rolled for 3 triangles. I could do two triangles that mirror image each other that are small and then one big symmetrical triangle in the middle.
Roll at least 6 times to create a unique geometrical snowflake. Repeat as desired and decorate with them too!
Snowflake Dice Game using scissors
The variation of the Geometry flakes dice game is to use scissors and make traditional paper snowflakes. However, it make it educational and to make it a game it requires modification.
Fold your paper in half three times to get a folded paper triangle. Label the side that has three edges “Even” and the side with one bulky edge “odd”.
Using two dice, roll and cut based on what’s rolled. 2 is still a wild roll.
We started by identifying the white die as what shape was going to be cut and the colored die was the odd or even number. This is a more advanced skill because it requires that students cut only half of the shape so that once opened, the paper shows the full shape.
If you add in a third die, you can do odd and even based on addition and shape based on the remaining die.
Find even more awesome activities that incorporate both math and art in my friend Karyn’s book!
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This is so much fun! Love it!