How to Create Simple Tessellations

Tessellations are a fun, hands-on way to explore STEAM, whether you are in art class, math class, or in a STEM or STEAM classroom. Certain basic shapes can be easily tessellated:

• squares
• hexagons
• triangles

Combination shapes, complicated shapes, and animals such as the ones found on these sites are also examples to print and color:

• Shapes that Tessellate
• Lizards, M.C. Escher and more

What exactly is a tessellation?

Tessellations are patterns resulting from arranging, or tiling, shapes without any gaps. They can be made by positioning the same shape with one of these three operations:

• translation
• rotation
• reflection

Translation can be thought of as sliding the shape along a plane. This is the type of tessellation you can make easily with a sticky note (as shown below). Rotation tessellations are accomplished by (you guessed it!) rotating the tessellated shape. Reflection tessellations are mirrored. You can also create complex tessellations by combining multiple operations.

Create a Translation Tessellation

Materials needed:

• square piece of paper (a small sticky note works well)
• scissors
• tape
• paper
• pencil

There are some videos for making rotational and mirror tessellations on YouTube once your students have mastered the simpler translation tessellation:

Rotational tessellations

Reflection or Mirror Tessellation

Use a Collaborative Tessellation for a Research Project

I had so much fun creating artistic tessellations with my kids that I created a simple “I” tessellation research project for inventions! A list of 50+ inventions is included that students can research and report on in a fun way. You can find the invention tessellation resource here.

Free Download – Print and Color Tessellation Pages

If you want to relax and color, print these at up to 4 pages per sheet (there are 5 pages included):

Pin these ideas to save them for later: