Now Our Turn to Share
Jane really appreciates the great optical illusions and Escher-art book suggestions. She has added more than a few promising titles to her birthday wish list, so perhaps we’ll have some reviews to share in the months ahead. In the meantime, here’s a nifty YouTube clip we found. Jane was looking for help in drawing “impossible shapes”; I didn’t know what she meant until she showed me pictures in the Harold Jacobs Mathematics book. (Highly recommended, by the way—we have never used the Jacobs books as textbooks, but rather they have been ‘fun reading’ for Jane and others for several years. She has Mathematics: A Human Endeavor and the algebra book, and actually the Jacobs geometry book is item number one on her birthday list.)
Back to the video clip. Jane spent a good bit of time yesterday working out how to draw the “impossible triangle.” This morning we found this Paint tutorial demonstrating that triangle and several other “impossible” shapes. Simple and fun.
Summer says:
Thanks, Jane! 🙂 As a fifth grade teacher, this is great! You don’t happen to have the html so I can tag it for future use? Or would a You Tube search for “impossible shapes” suffice?
On May 19, 2009 at 9:37 am
Emily says:
That video was great! One of my 6yo twins is really into art. He thought that video was fascinating and is now asking for a book to learn to draw optical illusions.
On May 19, 2009 at 9:48 am
Yvonne says:
Oh my heavens, my daughters are going to love this. Thank you. You guys are superduper.
On May 19, 2009 at 9:50 am
Lenetta @ Nettacow says:
Lissa, I just stumbled across this and thought of you – http://www.greatsunflower.org/en
They send you free seeds for sunflowers (a specific variety) and you spend 30 minutes a month (I think) recording bee data and send it in. I’ve bookmarked it for next year, anyway.
On May 19, 2009 at 10:41 am
Sarah N. says:
What a cool video. I’ll have to my 5yo is very into art and I’ll have to show it to her tomorrow. I’m going to look up the Jacobs math books too.
On May 19, 2009 at 5:22 pm