Halloween Tessellations: Spooky Math Art

Materials

Both Halloween tessellation projects use the same basic materials. You probably have all these common household items.

• Paper
• Pencil and pen
• Square sticky notes or other small square of paper
• Tape
• Scissors
• Colored pencils, crayons or markers

Ghost Tessellation Instructions

If you've ever made tessellations with your kids before, you'll recognize how easy it is to make these repeating ghosts. They are even easier than the cat tessellations we made, but the concept is the same!

Step 1. Decide how wide you want your ghosts to be. We cut our square sticky note in half to make long thin ghosts, but you can skip that step to make short, squat ghosts. After all, ghosts come in all body types!

Step 2. Draw a half circle at the top of your sticky note without touching the top of the paper. This steps allows for some creativity. Do you want your ghost to have a round head? A pointy or lopsided head? The pattern will still tesselate, so give your ghost some personality. (For reference: at the bottom of this post, you can see the specter in our ghost tessellation bookmark has a pointy head.)

Step 3. Cut the paper on the line you just drew.

Step 4. Move the cut portion of the paper to the bottom to form your ghost template and secure with tape. TIP: You can make your ghost shorter or longer depending on where you align the two pieces.

Step 5. Place ghost template on a sheet of paper and trace. Repeat this step, lining up the template on the paper so it forms a tessellated pattern. You can stager your columns of ghosts, or keep them aligned.

Step 6. The all important finish is to give your ghosts cute faces and color them however you wish!

Alternative Ghost Tessellation

Creating this alternative ghost template for a tessellation pattern is not as basic as our first ghost template, but it's not hard, either!

Use the instructions in our original how to draw abstract tessellations instructions (or watch the how-to video below) to create an abstract shape. Rotate this shape until you can imagine it as a ghostly apparition and then tessellate!

Bat Tessellation Instructions

Nothing says Halloween like a colony of bats!

Step 1. Draw the outline of pointy ears and wings at the top of your sticky note. Don't forget that you want to leave space between the ears and the top of the paper.

Step 2. Cut the paper on the line you just drew.

Step 3. Move the cut portion of the paper to the bottom to form your bat template. TIP: Just like with the ghost, you can make your bat shorter or longer depending on where you align the two pieces.

We went for a bat with a short body. In this case, you want to place the cut portion near the bottom of the paper and cut on the outline. This is where a sticky note comes in handy because the top portion will stay in place while you cut!

Step 4. Now that you have a bat template, create your patterns. Place bat template on a sheet of paper and trace. Repeat this step, lining up the template on the paper so it forms a tessellated pattern. You can stager your columns of bats (as we did), or keep them aligned.

Step 5. Finish up by giving your bats sweet or fierce faces (don't forget the fangs!) and color them however you wish!

BONUS: Halloween Tessellation Bookmarks

While working on this project, we noticed that a column of tessellated bats or ghosts makes a great bookmark! Cut out a column of finished creatures and use as a bookmark. For longevity, use card stock instead of office paper, or laminate the finished product.