Tin-Foil Twinkles
Be a geometry detective! Cut out and design these shiny 3-dimensional stars. They’re filled with angles.
1. Talk about ways to describe shapes using words such as sides, corners, lines, and angles. Analyze familiar 2-dimensional plane figures, such as squares, triangles, and rectangles. Identify properties that make each shape unique. Compare familiar 3-dimensional space figures such as cubes and pyramids. What properties make these shapes unique?
2. Here’s a new way to create paper stars that are unique. Fold an 8-inch (10 cm) square piece of construction paper in half to form a rectangle. Hold the rectangle so the fold is at the bottom. Bring up the bottom right point to meet the left side about 1/3 of the way down from the top left corner. Press down on fold.
3. Fold the lower left triangle piece up over the top. Press down on fold.
4. Fold the right half of the shape (from the folded triangle to the right tip) over to the left. Your folded paper resembles an ice cream cone with 2 scoops of pointy ice cream, one large and one small!
5. Use Crayola® Scissors to cut the folded paper from about 1/3 of the way from the bottom of the right fold to the corner of the angle on the left side. Discard the "ice cream scoops."
6. Open the folded paper "cone" to reveal your star. Crease all the fold lines that end in a point so they are folded up. Crease all the in-between fold lines so they fold down. Make several stars. Experiment with other paper sizes.
7. Cut pieces of colored art foil to fit on some of the star surfaces. Attach foil with a Crayola Glue Stick.
8. Use Crayola Gel Markers and your imagination to draw designs on the foil and paper surfaces of your stars.
9. Compare your stars with your classmates’ stars. Each star may have a unique shape. Analyze the surfaces. Are all surfaces around the same star the same plane figure? Describe and measure sides (lines) and corners (angles). Are some angles larger and others smaller? Are some lines longer than others?
10. After you have explored your stars, use them to decorate a bulletin board for science and math or for holiday gifts.
Adult supervision is required for any arts & crafts project.
Small Parts—
WARNING: CHOKING HAZARD—Small parts. Not for children under 3 years.
Scissors—ATTENTION: The cutting edges of scissors are sharp and care should be taken whenever cutting or handling. Blunt-tip scissors should be used only by children 4 years and older. Pointed-tip scissors should be used only by children 6 years and older.
- Vary the cutting steps to see how your resulting star figures change. Use this bank of star shapes to classify and compare them based on their geometric properties.
- Turn Tin-Foil Twinkles into a study of fractions. What fraction of your star is covered with foil? Use fractions to plan each star’s foil and marker designs. Compare stars, discussing designs using fraction descriptions.
- Incorporate this geometry experience with studies of space and stars, celebration of holidays, and elementary and advanced geometry and trigonometry lessons.
- Construct 50 stars for a U.S. flag display, giving each star a unique design dedicated to one state. What other countries have stars on their flags? Make replicas of those flags.
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