Outdoor Lessons – Symmetrical Snowflakes
By MARISSA DESPINS Updated April 09, 2024
Hello my fellow outdoor enthusiasts! Today I have more fun outdoor lessons to share with you! When the snow falls, it is the perfect time to put on the snowboots and head outside to learn with your students
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Outdoor Lessons for Math – Symmetrical Snowflakes
This one is a bit of a throwback that we completed right before Christmas holidays. All of my little learners were waiting patiently for the snow to fall. Because of this, it seamed like an excellent time to introduce outdoor lessons all about snowflakes!
Snowflake Themed Read Aloud
We started with a fun read aloud of “Snowflake Bentley“. This one is definitely a classic. It talks all about the beautiful snowflake images he was able to capture on camera. I think it is a great story to talk about the power of perseverance as well, and why we shouldn’t give up on our dreams. If you don’t have a copy of this book, you can watch a read aloud of it on YouTube below.
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For additional information to help you with your next class read aloud, check out our complete Interactive Read Aloud Guide!
Snowflake Mini Books
During the week, we worked to collect some facts on snowflakes. Then, we made our own mini fact books. We took our completed books over to the Kindergarten class to read to them. This was a fun way to share our learning!
For more information on using mini books in the classroom, check out our mini book tips!
Symmetrical Snowflake Building
For the outdoor lessons, I took my class out for a nature walk. Armed with individual ziplock baggies, the kids collected a variety of natural materials. I encouraged them to grab items that were small and that would be easy to glue down to a large sheet of paper. By the end of our walk, they had all filled their bags with an assortment of leaves, sticks, and pinecones.
Back in the classroom, we did a quick lesson on symmetry, and looked at some of Snowflake Bentley’s symmetrical snowflake images.
I passed out some snowflake example cards to help get their ideas flowing, and they talked to their partners about the different lines of symmetry they could see.
After discussing the symmetry they noticed, the kids were super engaged and excited to create their own images.
I pulled out some liquid glue and some large sheets of paper, and organized the students into small groups to create their own collaborative snowflakes. First, they drew their symmetrical designs in pencil, then traced them with glue. After, they attached bits and pieces of the natural materials they had collected, and created some really beautiful works of art! We used these to decorate our classroom and door before we left for Christmas break.
I was really pleased with how these turned out, and they were super easy to create. I hope this inspires you to take your students outside to create your own symmetrical designs – it was a wonderful excuse for a winter nature walk!
For another fun outdoor symmetry lesson, check out these Symmetry Stick Bugs!
Interested in some of the snowflake resources I mentioned in this post?
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Looking for more Outdoor Learning resources?
Click on the image or button below to go directly to the Outdoor Learning section of my Teachers Pay Teachers store. I have a wide variety of different outdoor learning resources available!
Looking for more Outdoor lessons?
Check out some of my previous outdoor learning posts below.
Outdoor Math Activities for Earth Day
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