Math is all around us, often in unexpected ways. Art is a wonderful medium for exploring math, and it’s a nice change of pace from multiplication drills!
Hands-on Art & Math
We’ve been learning geometry, and I wanted to bring in a creative hands-on project for the boys. I found a painting by Paul Klee in one of our art books, and you can see how he used shapes to create his piece. Though his painting is done in oil, we used chalk pastels to create our pictures. I also gave each of my boys his own geometry kit, which includes a compass, protractor, triangle, and small ruler.
The boys had fun exploring their geometry kits and using different shapes to create their faces. Once they had some outlines drawn, they began to fill them in with color. The chalk pastels are fun to use, but they create a good bit of chalk dust debris, so we decided to work in the kitchen for easier clean up.
Once they filled in their choices of colors inspired by Paul Klee’s piece, the boys spent a lot of time smudging and blending to get their desired result. As we worked, we talked about the characteristics of different shapes, how some have curved lines and some have angles, and how some are open and some are closed.
Mainly, though, I just let the boys create without trying to over think it.
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