Symmetry Fun

From A Magical Childhood website newsletter, I was sent some craft ideas for Valentines Day this Wednesday 14th February. One of them was about exploring Heart Symmetry by making a Heart Shaped Scrapbook and using painted hearts to teach about symmetry. Folding pieces of paper in half and showing the kids how to draw a half heart shape, cutting it out and unfolding it to form a heart. Giving them some small dishes of coloured paint and ask them to drop various blobs of it on the inside of the heart, then fold it shut again. When they open it up again, they'll have a pattern that is symmetrical -- the same on both sides. Talk about what else is symmetrical -- some shapes, our bodies, lots of trees.... and then ask them to find examples of things that are and are not symmetrical around the house or in magazines.

We had great fun with this this morning but no actual scrapbooks were completed yet as we got stuck into the painting and so the actual books will have to be put together once the paint is dry.

The finished book is going to look something like this

The instructions can be seen here Valentine's Heart Scrapbook

We also have begun exploring the Chocolate Curriculum

Valentine's Day is synonymous with chocolate. Did you know that chocolate has been around for over 2000 years? It didn't start out as a candy bar — it started out as a drink! What follows are some great links to websites where you can learn about the origins of chocolate, how it was used, when and where the first chocolate factory started and much more! You'll also find some sweet activities that your family can do to extend the learning.

Ivan is particularly taken with the chocolate based learning. We are having great fun.