Math and Art in the Classroom

Did you know that using art can be an awesome way to help your students understand basic math concepts? In fact, you can integrate art into just about any math concept with a little bit of creativity and research! The connection between art and math is not a new concept, but it is definitely worth exploring in our elementary classrooms. At the elementary level, art activities can be used for covering topics such as geometry, time, money, measurement, symmetry, and perimeter. The projects don't have to be complicated, and they don't even need to take a lot of time away from your lesson plan. Also, art activities can work wonders for kids who struggle with grasping math concepts, and they certainly provide hands on, visual learning for your students. In case you need a few ideas for how to use art activities in your math lessons, we put together several math-focused art projects from Super Teacher Worksheets. You can find each of these crafts on the webpage for whichever math concept is being demonstrated. Below are three fun art projects for symmetry, tessellations, and basic fractions.


Make paper snowflakes with your students to decorate your classroom on cold winter days. This hands-on activity teaches kids about symmetry. Templates and directions for the snowflakes pictured above can be found on the Symmetry Page on Super Teacher Worksheets.


Create colorful tessellation artwork in class as your students discover the beauty of patterns in geometry. With an easy-to-follow instruction guide, your students will create there own unique shapes to transform into a tessellating pattern. Explore the Tessellation Page on Super Teacher Worksheets to discover fun ways to make colorful tessellation art.


Teach fractions and make fun artwork at the same time with fraction pizzas. Distribute pizza pictures (found on the Super Teacher Worksheets Fraction Page) to your students and have them create posters like the one above. Slices of pizza are a great visual for fraction recognition, and there are endless ways to display them! These activities are just a few of the art projects that you can incorporate into your math lessons. For other ideas, check out our Math Page on Super Teacher Worksheets. Art doesn't have to be fancy to teach kids new concepts. When students make the art project personal and connect with the concept, you have a math masterpiece. Be sure to leave your comments below!