Learning Tessellations Through Drawing
Bathroom floor tiles, honeycomb cells, and brick walls all share a hidden math secret: they're made of shapes that fit together perfectly, with no gaps and no overlaps. That's a tessellation, and it's a surprisingly fun pattern for children to draw.
Why Tessellations Are Worth Exploring
A tessellation is a pattern made by repeating one or more shapes so they cover a surface completely, without any gaps or overlapping. Squares, equilateral triangles, and regular hexagons are the simplest shapes that tessellate on their own, which makes them a great starting point for drawing.
How Drawing Builds Tessellation Understanding
Trying to fit copies of the same shape together, edge to edge, quickly reveals which shapes tessellate easily and which leave awkward gaps. This hands-on trial and error teaches children far more about how shapes interact than simply looking at a finished tessellated pattern.
Simple Activities to Try
- Stamp a tessellation — trace the same simple shape, like a square or hexagon, repeatedly across a page so the edges line up.
- Color the pattern — once a tessellation is drawn, color it using two or three alternating colors to make the repeating pattern pop.
- Try shapes that don't tessellate on their own, like circles, and talk about why gaps appear.
- Combine with pattern drawing activities, since tessellations are really a two-dimensional kind of repeating pattern.
Tips for Parents and Teachers
- Start with squares, which are the easiest shape for beginners to tessellate without gaps.
- Use a simple cardboard cutout as a tracing template to keep repeated shapes consistent in size.
- Point out real-world tessellations, like tiled floors or honeycombs, to connect the activity to everyday life.
Frequently Asked Questions
What shapes tessellate most easily?
Squares, equilateral triangles, and regular hexagons are the three regular shapes that tessellate on their own without leaving any gaps.
Can circles tessellate?
Not on their own — circles always leave curved gaps between them when packed together, which makes for a great hands-on discovery for children to make themselves.
Is tessellation art or math?
Really both. Tessellations sit at the intersection of geometry and art, which is part of why they make such an engaging drawing activity for exploring shapes.
Conclusion
Tessellations turn a simple repeated shape into a satisfying, gap-free pattern, and drawing them is a hands-on way to explore how shapes fit together. Once your child sees one click into place, they'll likely want to try covering the whole page.