Developing: Symmetry (Symmetry Game)
Hints and Tips
This game is a fun activity for your child, especially as he/she can make all the resources needed.
Spend some time making paint splodge pictures with your child as described in Symmetry. When the pictures are dry, cut them in half carefully, along the crease.
Essential Prior Knowledge
Know what half of something means.
Know that a mirror reflects exactly what is in front of it (this will have been learned outside the context of maths, in real life).
Activity
Using the paint splodge pictures your child made in the earlier symmetry activity mix up the pictures and spread them out face down on a flat surface. Ask your child to turn over two pictures to see if they are a pair. If the two halves make a whole picture, your child keeps the picture. If not, put them back in their original position, face down, and try again.
You could also look through magazines to find pictures that are symmetrical and cut them to play the game.
Remember to introduce some images that have vertical lines of symmetry as well as those with horizontal lines.
