Shapes in Nature

 

My girls like art projects so I thought the new  Shapes in Nature badges would be a good fit.  Earlier I wrote posts giving the requirements and VTK activities for both the Brownie and Junior badges.  This post is about how we went about doing the badges and the results.  I had all the girls (Brownies and Juniors) do all the activities.  

Requirements for Juniors

According to Badge Explorer, Juniors

        1. Identify symmetry in nature

        2. Explore bilateral symmetry in nature

        3. Create nature-inspired art with circular symmetry

        4. Find fractals in nature

        5. Search for the Fibonacci sequence

When Juniors have earned this badge, they'll know about symmetry, fractals, and the Fibonacci sequence. They'll have identified patterns and shapes in nature.

Identify symmetry in nature

One of the offered activities was to discuss symmetry and lines of symmetry and for the girl to then fold a square sheet of paper such that it had six lines of symmetry and then to cut it into a snowflake.  I figured the symmetry lesson might be new but surely all the girls had cut snowflakes at school, right?  Wrong.  It took a couple of trials before they "got" it.  One mom told me later that her daughter came home and made a dozen, loved the new trick.  

Explore Bilateral Symmetry in Nature

To explore bilateral symmetry in nature I called a girl up and talked about what the two sides would look like if I cut her in half going across at the waist, in half from the head down with a front half and a back half and from the head down with a left side and right.  We talked about how bilateral symmetry means each half looks the same and that there was only one way to cut her to make her symmetrical.  Then we did the activity where a partner traces half a girl on roll paper and the girl draws her other half and colors it in.  The girls had fun doing this but all the drawings ended up in the trash.  

Create Nature-Inspired Art with Circular Symmetry

Now, this was one I though my artsy girls would love.  Our supply stash has some drawing compasses in it so I had them draw some concentric circles and then embellish them to create a work of art with circular symmetry. We had trouble with the compasses and no one was really happy with their project.   

With Covid, a hurricane and everything else, my attendance this year has been less than stellar.  When I went to order badges I realized that few girls had completed anything--one disadvantage to breaking badges up into multiple meetings.  In any case, I held a make-up day last month and did different activities to meet most of the requirements that had been missed.  To make up this requirement, I had a bunch of different sized circular objects for them to trace.  Then I had the girls arrange them by size and glue them to a page concentrically.  Since we had repeated the snowflake project, I had them use the cuttings from the snowflake to embellish circles and I talked about symmetry and concentric.  These were better looking that the first projects but the girls still weren't thrilled with them.

Find Fractals in Nature

We went to the park and right next to the table I found a piece of vine--fractal!  We went on a scavenger hunt through the bird sanctuary and fractals were on the list to be noted.  I never checked to see if anyone marked them but on the way back we looked at a tree and how its branches were fractals, and when I almost tripped over some tree roots we looked at them and how they were fractals. 

 

Search for the Fibonacci Sequence

I showed the girls the pictures from VTK and talked about how some flowers had that shape.  It was on our scavenger hunt sheet but no one (including the leader) saw if. We will  use graph paper and draw the golden rectangle next time and talk about the sequence--and by the way, I read something on the internet that basically said the Fibonacci Sequence really wasn't all that common in nature.  

Requirements for Brownies

According to Badge Explorer, to earn the Shapes in Nature badges Brownies:

• Track natural objects
• Graph natural objects
• Make a spiderweb with symmetry
• Explore tessellations and
• Collect data about birds

When you've earned this badge, you will know about counting, graphing, symmetry, and tessellations.

You’ll also know about spiders, birds, and other natural objects.

Track Natural Objects

VTK suggested a scavenger hunt in nature with tally marks used to record data.  We took a walk through the  bird sanctuary at our local park where we saw ducks and geese, some racoons and a nutrial  We saw too many irises to count and lots of trees.  The girls were excited about seeing things but I don't know how many tally marks got made--I picked up the papers and left them on the clipboards and stored them in the GS room.  I couldn't see them when I picked them up as it was dark.  However, I don't think our data collection was very accurate.

Graph Natural Objects

Next, VTK wants us to crate a graph with the data we collected.  I'll take a quick look at the data sheets before the next meeting, but my guess is that the data won't be terribly accurate.  I'm thinking that maybe we'll graph our cookie sales by kind or that I'll make up some data and show them how to graph--but if their data is graphable, we'll graph it.  

Make a Spiderweb with Symmetry

We did this at Halloween, using black construction paper, glue and sand.  They liked it.  

Collect Data About Birds

I asked the girls with phone and the moms who came along to download the iNaturalist app so we could look up the types of birds we saw and send it in.  I know some did this, and we had space on our sheet to tally the different types of birds, but we really didn't see that many types.  I did give a speech about using observation to gather data, but mostly the girls were just excited to be outside at the park and seeing turtles, racoons and baby ducks.  

Explore Tessellations

We haven't dong this yet but one VTK suggestion is quilt blocks.  We will be doing the Junior Independence badge soon and I'm thinking about a pillow made with quilt squares made of two triangles in a tessellated pattern.  On the other hand, I may just pull out the crayons.  

My Comments

We've done these badges over several meetings.  We did the spiderwebs at Halloween.  We did the body tracing and the snowflakes at the first meeting focusing on these badges.  We did the Circular Symmetry project at the same meeting where we made a dessert/sweet snack--King Cake. At our trip to the part we found fractals, tracked natural items and at least attempted to collect data about birds.  We'll finish up by drawing the golden rectangle per VTK, graphing something and doing something with tessellations.  

While I get where they are going with the observation thing, tallying the number of trees in the part, or the number of flowers in the spring isn't likely to be accurate.  Bird watching is kind of hit or miss.  The girls loved going out and looking at the animals but let's just say I wouldn't want to bet my life on that data.  I also doubt the graphs are going to be a big hit--too much like school, but who knows?