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St. Patrick’s Day Symmetry Craft

Math
Grades 4-5
Grades 1-3

Learn about symmetry while making a St. Patrick's Day craft!

Materials

Face Paint Jars 6 Pack
Glitter Shakers Mega Pack, 12 Assorted Colors
Colored Craft Sticks
Craft Glue
Pencil & Green Marker
Scissors
Construction Paper
Small Plate or try for gluing

Instructions

Step 1. Gather your supplies.

Step 2.

Fold a 4 x 5″ piece of white construction paper in half, lengthwise. Draw half of a heart on the folded edge of the paper.

Step 3.

Cut out this shape. When you unfold the paper, you will have a whole heart.

Step 4.

Repeat Steps 2 and 3 to create 3 hearts. When arranged together, these hearts form the leaves of the shamrock.

Step 5.

Put Finger Paint on one half of a heart. Make sure to apply the paint generously. For this Saint Patrick’s Day project, we used green and yellow colors.

Step 6.

Fold the heart in half, with the painted part on the inside and gently press the paper together. Unfold the heart. The design that you created with the finger paint will have transferred to the other side of the heart. This showcases symmetry.

Step 7.

Repeat Steps 5-6 with the other 2 hearts. Arrange the 3 painted hearts onto blue construction paper to form a shamrock shape. Glue a green Craft Stick on the bottom as a stem.

Step 8.

Decorate the background of the paper with mini shamrocks made with your fingers and green Finger Paint. Press your finger down to create groups of 3 dots.

Step 9.

Use the green marker to add stems to the small Finger Print Shamrocks and write a holiday message on top of your artwork.

Step 10.

Add glitter to make your project sparkle! First, use the craft glue bottle to apply a thin outline around the hearts and the stem.

Step 11.

Pour Green Glitter onto the glued area. If it pours outside the glued area, it’s okay! The Glitter will only stick to the glue.

Step 12.

Gently shake the Glitter off the picture onto the small plate.

Step 13.

Finish decorating your shamrock picture by adding some Glitter Glue to the leaves. Allow to dry thoroughly before displaying in your home!

Teacher's Corner

Explore the symmetry of a handcrafted shamrock with a quick geometry lesson!

Lesson Objectives

Line of Symmetry: Test any shape’s symmetry by drawing a line down the middle — if the divided shape is the same on both sides, then it’s symmetrical. Have your students draw this line of symmetry on their cut-out shamrock petals!
Nature of Symmetry: Think about shapes in nature — from leaves to butterfly wings, and even acorns. Test the line of symmetry with these shapes, then try to find an asymmetrical one!

Follow-up Discussion

Once your students finish their shamrocks, starting at the fuzzy stick stem. Is it the same on either side? For more symmetrical practice, use computer games or graph paper!