Pre-K children enrolled in All Saints’ Episcopal School’s Early Childhood Program recently donned their math goggles and engaged in a symmetry activity using the visual arts as a lens.
The children learned about and viewed several images of the artwork of Robert Indiana, the American artist most notably known for his “Love” paintings and sculptures. Given that Valentine’s Day was quickly approaching, Indiana’s “Love” art was a perfect backdrop to this lesson.
Using simple supplies such as crayons and markers, the children colored their own “Love” art in the spirit of Robert Indiana. Then, with their math goggles on, students used toothpicks to divide colorful plastic buttons in half, thus marking lines of symmetry. The children especially enjoyed being challenged to find more than one line of symmetry in a button shape. Students also gained practice with locating lines of symmetry in letters of the alphabet using their LOVE masterpieces.
We ended class by reading the very apropos book, “The Day It Rained Hearts” by Felicia Bond.
Put your math goggles on and enjoy finding symmetry (and math!) in art!
