Art & Math – inspired by Klee

We love all craft activities for kids, but especially those that mix learning with art.

This activity we did with a group of kids ranging in age from 3 years old to 3rd graders.   It was fun being able to do an activity together, that multiple ages can learn from and enjoy doing together.

Prior to our activity, I cut up a bunch of shapes.   I cut strips of construction paper that were 1 and a half inches thick.   I then made squares from those strips (1 1/2″ x 1 1/2″) and rectangles by cutting double-wide squares (1 1/2″ x 3″).   From some of the squares, we cut them in half to make triangles, mini-rectangles and tiny squares.

We were inspired to create our project by the Castle and Sun work of Paul Klee.

He fit a variety of shapes into a space to create a castle scene.   We took the same principles and gave the kids a sheet of paper.   They had to completely fill their page with the shapes.

Older students had to use a variety of shapes, they had to have one or more of each shape in their picture.

Younger kiddos could use just squares or squares and rectangles to fill their sheet.   The rule: No overlapping pieces (or try to not have overlapping) and “fill” all the white.

Without even realizing it, your kids are learning basic principles of geometry and how shapes and area interact.

Learn Fractions

(Contains affiliate links.)

If you want to add another learning element to the page for your older kids, ask them to explain in fractions how much a row or a particular shape or color takes up in the “space” of the image.

We have our math lessons hanging proudly on our wall.

I found a great little book with even more Math Art for Kids!

Thanks Paul Klee for inspiring this art (and math) project.

More Math Fun You’ll Love:

• Looking for a little extra math practice for your child? We have plenty of kids worksheets for you to pick from.
• Long division is hard. But it doesn’t have to be with these division practice games.
• Make math much more enjoyable with these fun math games.
• Screen time doesn’t to be a bad thing with the splash math dashboard.
• Just learning how to add? These simple addition activities will help your child succeed.
• Make math fun with this kid math puzzle!
• Learning about money is not only an important life skill, but a fun way to learn math. Check out our play money printable.
• Is your child just learning to count? Then they’ll love these kids counting games.
• Put a twist on subtraction with this subtraction color by number printable.
• Make a splash with this shark week coloring pages.
• Make math festive with these Halloween math coloring worksheets.
• This is so cool! Here are some ways to earn screen time by figuring out math problems.
• Check out our kindergarten math games!
• Everyone loves baby shark! Now baby shark is educational with this subtract with baby shark color my number printables.
• Tired of subtraction? We also have addition shark worksheets as well!
• Want more educational activities? Check out these easy stem activities for kids.