Pattern Blocks – Hexagons
Using just four of the standard pattern block shapes, here are examples of making triangles with one, two, three, and four of those shapes.
THE CHALLENGE
For each of the numbers from 5 to 10, make a triangle that uses that many of these shapes.
EXPLORATION
Can you find more than one way to do some of these? Extend your list of possible numbers to 20!
Notes
THE CHALLENGE & EXPLORATION
There are a large number of ways to do this. Any design that involves a parallelogram can be used to create a hexagon that has one more triangle by splitting the parallelogram into two triangles. Similarly, trapezoids can be split into a parallelogram and a triangle. Also, hexagons can be split into two trapezoids, three parallelograms, or six triangles. All of these give automatic ways of creating hexagons with one additional shape over and over again.
Here are just a few of the starting numbers. There are too many to attempt to show them all. Some of the patterns your students create will make pretty patterns and may look good hung on the walls of your classroom.
