Last week we talked about symmetry, specifically as seen in snowflakes. Snowflakes have a hexagonal (6 sided) base, which happens to be one of the best shapes for tessellations!
You have definitely seen tessellations before. Picture a tiled bathroom floor, or the honeycomb in a beehive, or the pattern on a soccer ball. These are just a few examples of tessellations - repeated patterns of identical shapes with no gaps or spaces. WolframMathworld (click here!) has pictures of several types of regular tessellations. Triangles, squares, and hexagons are the three basic shapes that tessellate - what weird and wacky shapes can you imagine tessellating?
Want to make your own mathematical art? Print tessellation coloring pages here: https://coloringhome.com/tessellation-coloring-pages-printable
Follow these directions to make your own stencil: https://stemactivitiesforkids.com/2019/10/08/create-a-simple-tessellation/
MathIsFun - Tessellation Basics
Art and Tessellations at CSUN
Tessellations.org
