Shapes and symmetry

Ages 6 to 8 Read together, then try alone · about 15 minutes

Read together

A shape is symmetrical if one half is a mirror of the other.

A butterfly is symmetrical. The fold line is the line of symmetry.

Do it

1. Fold a paper in half. Cut a half-heart or half-butterfly along the fold with a grown-up's help.
2. Open it and see both sides match. Draw the line of symmetry.
3. Find symmetrical shapes at home: a leaf, a face, a window.
4. Try to make a non-symmetrical shape and say why it is different.

Talk about it

• Where is the line of symmetry?
• Which shapes are not symmetrical?

For the grown-up

Symmetry links maths to art and nature. A grown-up should do the cutting if scissors are new to the child.

Mark as done

← Previous lesson Next lesson →

Where this comes from

• National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and Council of Chief State School Officers, Common Core State Standards for Mathematics (2010), Grade 4 geometry standard 4.G.A.3 (line symmetry)
• Weyl, H., Symmetry (Princeton University Press, 1952)

Written with AI assistance and checked against the sources listed. Please read it before sharing it with a child.