Concept Byte: Creating Tessellations

Use With Lesson 9-7

ACTIVITY

The following activity shows the steps for making a creative tessellation, or repeating pattern of one or more shapes that fills a plane without leaving any gaps.

Activity

• Step 1 Draw a 1.5-in. square on a blank piece of paper and cut it out.

• Step 2 Draw a curve with endpoints on one side.

  

• Step 3 Cut along the curve you drew and slide the cutout piece to the opposite side of the square. Tape it in place.

  

• Step 4 Repeat this process using the other two opposite sides of the square.

• Step 5 Rotate the resulting figure. What does the figure look like? Is it a penguin wearing a hat or a knight on horseback? Could it be a dog with floppy ears? Use your imagination and decorate your figure.

  

• Step 6 Make a tessellation using your figure.

  

Exercises

Use the method described in the activity above to make a creative tessellation with each of the following types of polygons.

1. a rectangle with length 3 in. and width 2 in.
2. a parallelogram with 2-in. sides
3. a regular hexagon with 1.5-in. sides

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