In a recent math lesson, we explored design and fractions using quilt blocks. This open ended activity allowed the students to be creative and inquisitive while trying their hand at quilt design.
I had a stack of precut squares as well as some simple pieced blocks for the kids to "design" their own quilt squares. They really got into it!
While some worked alone, several paired up. Discussions about hot and cool colors, patterns, and symmetry were heard.
I also encouraged the kids to think about fractions. Quickly, they discovered that they could fold the squares into smaller shapes and fit them together. Look, it's fourths!
The second station was to recreate a quilt square using
geoboards. This activity was a little more challenging than they thought! They discovered that a quilt is made of shapes sewn together. We looked at actual pieced squares that included triangles, squares, and rectangles to create a single block.
I set out a few quilting books, and let them look through them to find a good square to recreate.
By the end of the activity, they were all wanting to quilt for real. We may have a class quilt project on our hands. I'll keep you posted!
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