3D Snowflake

We tried this out today:

Make-a-3D-Paper-Snowflake:

Went a lot faster than I thought and looks really nice despite being a bit messy and crooked with the cuts.  It's a fairly forgiving project.   Considering we used half sheets rather than full, it is surprisingly huge, measuring about a foot across.  In light of my lifelong love of teeny origami, I might try to make some minis as Christmas ornaments.

This was recommended by a teacher friend, who says this is a favorite among her students and she ends up with a classroom full of these.

Theme for the Day: Fractals

Remember my earlier post on fractals?   Well, I'm truly hopeless at this point, so I need to share my obsession.

So what are fractals anyway?

Wiki says:  a rough or fragmented geometric shape that can be split into parts, each of which is (at least approximately) a reduced-size copy of the whole, a property called self-similarity.

Well (for the non math people like me) that basically that means layers of repeated shapes that can be calculated by a formula.  But you don't need a formula to enjoy them.  Check these out:

• Fractals in nature and even in the garden 
• Fractal art gallery on Cool Math
• Also check out the wiki link for some lovely examples

Ready to make your own?  Try these cool (free!) online generators:

• "Snowflake" style - design your fractal with five straight lines
• Cool Math has five
• Easy Fractal Generator lets you draw a Julia or Mandelbrot set (or a custom one if you are mathematically inclined) and lets you export your finished work to a file for printing.  Nice.
• This generator is similar to the snowflake one above but lets you overlap fractals and export the finished work
• Sierpinski Triangle

Hands on and fun links for the younger kids:

• this pbskids.org    project 
• The fractal foundation project
• Sierpinski Triangle color page
• Sierpinski carpet (cubes) color page
• Sierpinski gear (circles) color page
• A youtube.com search for "fractals" will give hundreds of results
• Fractal your dinner with the unusual  Romanesco cauliflower (see the details here - scroll down)
• Fractal cookies!  (Okay - a brave parent will have to help with this)
• Fractals in clay  (again better to stick with fewer iterations- repeats- with the little ones)

For the older kids and the lesson planners:

• pbs.org has a wonderful fractal lesson from Nova episodes including:
• A generator
• An article on Benoit Mandlebrot
• A fractal lesson that includes an interactive and a   discussion of fractals 
• A working video link to an interesting story about fractal analysis of tapestries
• You might notice the link to the Nova episode Hunting the Hidden Dimensions which is no longer available on PBS.org.  It is available for free on Hulu however. 

• Hoagies has some recc'd some interesting sites also.

Downloads

• A caltech worksheet for the Sierpenski Triangle. Notice! This is a word doc that will want to immediately download.
• A PDF worksheet on fractal math from fractalmath.com, advanced HighSchool+
• A PDF worksheet from Randoff College for grades 5-8
• Open Source software to download. Note: I have not trialed, so use at your own risk.
• A trial copy of (not-free) fractal software. Note:  I have not trialed, so use at your own risk.

Recycled Art

Sometimes  inspiration comes in twos.   As in combining two unlike things into one. I came across this art idea  and immediately thought "Pumpkins!"    Well, not pumpkins specifically, pumpkin templates would be more accurate.    While I love making use of junk mail, making stencils - not so much.   For  Halloween I went on the hunt for some fabulous pumpkin carving stencils and found many that had very little to do with Halloween.  But they would be great for other things.   My favorite finds were at

1. Paper Pumpkins
2. DLTK
3. Pumpkin Glow
4. Better Homes & Gardens

Because I enjoy making things difficult for myself, I opted to go with the Sleeping Cat.

Then I used a hobby knife to cut out the template.

"Sleeping Cat" cut out

Then I cut paper strips from junk mail.   I cut  a lot of paper strips.   Then I cut an empty snack bar box apart keeping one side plus some of the flaps  and arranged the strips on it.   I elected to glue over the printed side so I wouldn't have to see the box printing forever.  (And if you use these for gifts, it would look less recycled.)

recycled cardboard box

glued paper strips

Now here's where your choice of template design becomes important.  Lots of large open spaces?  Lots of loose paper flaps in the center?  Both are not good things.  As you go to glue the template over your cardboard base, all these loose bits of paper will wiggle around and fight you.  (And snicker.  I'm sure I heard snickering.)

Your glue is nothing to me. I laugh at your glue.  Haha!

But eventually I persevered and everything was glued down.

So then I trimmed off all the trailing edges of paper.

Huh, it's so boxy.

Well, at least it's not boxy anymore.

Well, I guess for a first attempt, it went pretty well.  I'd like to try it again with a better template and perhaps planned out colors of paper.  It would look interesting with shades of one or two colors I think.

My Favorite Craft

I’m starting things off with my favorite craft ever.    This was devised by my mom and we loved it as kids.  My kids love it just as much.   It’s quick, easy and fairly mess free.  It does involve a burn risk, so caution is needed.

The main downside is that it requires some specialist equipment.   Namely, an old fashioned electric hot plate.  They just don’t make them like they used to.  My mother kindly passed down her  vintage 1970s hotplate to me.  But I found these examples on eBay.

A Salton Hot Plate

A Cornwall Hot Plate

If you can get your hands on one of these gems, then all you need is some old crayons,  aluminum foil,  and plain copy paper.

1. Cover surface of  the hot plate  with aluminum foil.
2. Plug in hot plate and let it get warm.
3. Have the child draw a design on the foil using crayons.  Keep hands away from the foil surface and the hot plate.  The crayons will melt onto the foil.
4. Once the child is finished, lay a sheet of copy paper over the drawing.  Smooth down carefully – don’t burn yourself!
5. Lift paper.  Drawing is now on the paper.
6. Put aside to dry.

Easy!  Once they have tried it, kids will ask to do this again and again.

Tips for success

• Don’t use words (unless you can write backwards!)
• Keep the drawing the same size as the paper  – some hot plates have a large surface
• Foil will need to be wiped down or changed every few drawings.  If you opt for the wipe down method, use a damp towel you don’t care about.  Remember – melted wax.
• Have fun and experiment.   More enthusiastic artists will find that crayon wax will pool and colors will ooze together in interesting ways.

Happy Crafting!