GREAT
EXPLORATIONS - Moving air | Forming
images | Reflecting light | Electricity
and magnetism | Spinning things | Making
sense | Changing colours | Making
sounds and waves | Moving to and fro
| Thinking about shapes
This is an old set of proven ideas, for reference. My latest designs are
far better!
Thinking
about shapes
Line-up
TEXT:
Use these tiles to design your
own patterns.
Even though there are only three different
shapes on the tiles, how many different patterns do you think could be
made with them?
The patterns are screen-printed onto laminate-bonded MDF tiles with rounded
corners. I wanted to design an 'open-ended puzzle' which did not just
have one correct solution. There are no 'rules'. (Interestingly, if
you approach children who are engaged with ite and ask, 'What are you
supposed to do with this one?' the children will ALWAYS explain their
own set of 'rules' to you...!)
Packing
puzzle
(Sorry, no picture.)
TEXT:
Can you pack all these pieces into
the box?
They do fit, but only if you pack them carefully.
Be unkind to the next person: please take the
pieces out of the box when you have solved the puzzle.
There are two identical sets. Each consists of a large, open topped,
cube-shaped, wooden box packed with rectangular blocks of varous sizes,
shapes and colours.
Cube
puzzle
(Sorry, no picture)
TEXT:
Can you fit these shapes together
to make a cube?
A cube is a solid "box" shape with
six square sides.
Please take it apart again when you have solved
the puzzle: why make things easy for the next person?
A standard Soma-cube puzzle.
Tetrahedron
puzzle
(Sorry, no picture.)
TEXT:
Can you fit these two shapes together
to make a tetrahedron?
A tetrahedron is a solid shape with just
four triangular sides.
Please take it apart again when you have solved
the puzzle.
I love this. I think it is my favorite puzzle. I chose it because it
is so simple: there are only two identical pieces to fit together. Most
people find it extremely difficult, then smite their foreheads when they
see the solution.
Moire
patterns
TEXT:
Gently move the hanging plastic
square.
Notice the patterns you are making.
How do you make the patterns larger or smaller?
How do you make the patterns "slide" across the square? Does
the hanging square have the same sort of holes as the plastic fixed to
the light box?
When you move the square piece of perforated plastic the patterns slide
across it in the opposite direction. When you twist it, the patterns grow
or shrink. It's beautiful, it's simple, nearly all kids have already noticed
this phenomenon in everyday life, and few books ever mention it...
GREAT
EXPLORATIONS - Moving air | Forming
images | Reflecting light | Electricity
and magnetism | Spinning things | Making
sense | Changing colours | Making
sounds and waves | Moving to and fro
| Thinking about shapes
This is an old set of proven ideas, for reference. My latest designs are
far better!
|
