We took a much needed break from our typical math work this week to do some math art. There is so much math to be practiced through art and creating!

My boys thought this was a great art project and were thrilled to know it took the place of their typical math work for the day.

These pretty math art flowers are made from only paper plates and yarn. They are ideal for children about 7 years of age or older to do independently and maybe 4 years of age and up with some help. I also have a toddler/preschool version of this craft that I share right here, where we make butterflies!

The math skills reinforced with this math art are: skip counting, patterning, and one-to-one correspondence. There are also A LOT of visual-spatial skills being practiced, concentration is certainly needed, and memory skills are also practiced.

This math art is nice and simple for kids to make and turns out beautiful. In fact, with Mother’s Day just around the corner, these would be a lovely homemade gift for Mom.

To make these Math Art Yarn Flowers, you will need:

• paper plates
• yarn

Instructions:

NOTE: Check out the video to see these little flowers being made. It makes the instructions much clearer. I promise they are nice and easy! 

Begin by cutting a circle out of a paper plate so you are working with only the center. Then cut six slits into the paper plate, creating the flower petals.

Glue or tape a piece of long yarn to the back of your paper plate.

Now your child will start weaving! There is a special way to weave these paper plates to get the flower petals to look like flower petals (and to get the most math out of this activity as well.)

Start anywhere and count that as ‘flower petal one.’ Go under this flower petal, then over the second. Under the third, over the fourth. Under the fifth, over the sixth. Pause.

This is your first time all the way around the circle!

You will notice that 3 of the flower petals have yarn over them and 3 of the flower petals have yarn under them. We are now going to reverse this so all of the flower petals will have yarn over them and under them.

Here’s how:

You have just gone over the sixth flower petal and paused. You will now wrap that yarn under that sixth flower petal and go around the circle the opposite way. So you will be going under the sixth, over the fifth. Under the fourth, over the third. Under the second, over the first. Pause. 

Now you have completed your second time around the circle!

That is all there is to it. Each time you complete the circle, you will pause and reverse the order. 

Be sure to watch the video so you can see this in action, it makes it much simpler to understand.

Here is the recap:

• Petal 1: Under
• Petal 2: Over
• Petal 3: Under
• Petal 4: Over
• Petal 5: Under
• Petal 6: Over. Pause. Wrap underneath and reverse as you continue…
• Petal 5: Over
• Petal 4: Under
• Petal 3: Over
• Petal 2: Under
• Petal 1: Over. Pause. Wrap underneath and reverse as you continue.

When you are done weaving, add some glue or double-sided tape to the center of your flower and spiral some yarn into the middle to make your flower center.

Now your Math Art Flower is complete! And so is your math for the day! Woohoo!

If you want to give your child a solid math foundation in about 20 minutes a day, you’ll want to check out my Curriculum for Grades One, Two, and Three! Each is written as a storybook to make math engaging, meaningful, and fun—in only one page a day.

Take a peek right here: https://shop.howweelearn.com/collections/grades-1-2-3

Thank you so much for reading!

xo
Sarah