What are tesselations?
- Tessellations are repeating patterns.
- Tessellating patterns have no gaps or holes in the pattern and do not overlap.
- Tessellations can go on infinitely on a plane (flat surface)
In Early Education, we know that playing with shapes is math, math, and more math! Geometric awareness begins early as children notice, point out, manipulate (rotating, recreate), and name shapes. As a child grows more confident with what shapes are, they will instinctively begin grouping, comparing, and patterning. Here’s where tesselations come in as a fun and engaging way to notice and manipulate shapes and patterns!
Nature is our best teacher as we see tesselations in the world around us:
Your child can play with all types of shapes: cut them from paper, cardboard, or provide them with colored shape tiles to add another dimension of geometric play and tesselation formation:
Check out some amazing art formed from tesselations, like this piece from M.C. Escher: