Dear Karyn,

I'm always looking for ways to combine math and art into a fun activity. I'm also always looking for ways to show students that we're surrounded by math in ways we aren't necessarily aware of. That brings me to a recent Family Math Night Collaborative Project.

In this project I used the Fibonacci numbers to have participants create a Fibonacci Flower Garden. Fibonacci numbers are a sequence of numbers that are generated by adding the previous two numbers starting with 0 and 1.

0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, etc.

What's so cool about these numbers is that they're found throughout nature. In flowers. In pinecones. In nautilus shells. In spiral galaxies. They help underscore that math is really our way of describing the universe we live in.

I've put together a FREE lesson plan for those of you who are interested in doing this at your Family Math Night event. But it can also be done in the classroom. And it's a perfect activity as we head into the spring season and flowers begin to bloom.

I also have another super fun math and art activity that I do in the upper elementary grades.  It involves the Fibonacci spiral.  Here's a link to a blog I wrote about it years ago.

What I like about these projects is that bringing art into the equation (!) is a great way to show students that math can be described in visually artistic ways. 

Be sure to check our my other fun math and art projects:

On another note, we now have the Spanish booklets for our Dealin' Digits card games available in digital/PDF format. You'll automatically get access to them through the card decks when you receive your Dealin' Digits order.

Finally, if you have any questions about how we can help you host an in-person and/or virtual Family Math Night event, or if you'd like to send pre-packaged math games home for the spring or summer breaks, do not hesitate to contact me.

Enjoy the beautiful spring season.

Karyn

Karyn Hodgens

co-founder and Managing Director, Math Unity LLC

Elementary Mathematics Specialist

karyn@familymathnight.com

1.800.605.5034 

www.familymathnight.com