Teaching Symmetry

One of the lessons in math I teach each year is on symmetry. It's a very basic concept, but I like to have some fun with it so I come up with an art project for the students to do to illustrate symmetry. Below is a fun one we did last year.

Materials:

A photo of each student - student must be facing the camera as straight as possible, smiling, printed in black and white
White card stock
glue stick
pencil


Start by cutting each photo down the center of the student's face. Make sure it is exactly half. Hand each student half of their face (they will think this is hilarious). Ask them to glue the half-picture onto the card stock, as far to the edge as possible.

Using a pencil only, students should draw the other half of their face on the blank side of the page, using as much symmetry as possible.