Design a picture and use sticky notes to put in on your window. Let your neighbors enjoy it too!
Task
Supplies: A stack of 3in x 3in sticky notes (I bought a pack of 4 different colored ones for $6.50 or so), Graph paper, color pencils, ruler. What to do: 1) Measure your window (ours was 26in wide by 27in tall) and the sticky notes (3in by 3in). 2) Find, or better, let your kid find how many notes they can put in the width and height. This can be done by multiplication/division of numbers (for 7+ year olds) or just by lining the notes on the window (for 4+ year olds). For use, this was 9 tall and 8 across. 3) Now draw a grid representing the window (9 x 8 for us) and help your child design a pattern by coloring squares with colored pencils matching the colors of the sticky notes. (If your child is struggling this step, you can make a pattern for her - see "how it went" below) 4) Once the pattern is done, your child can use sticky notes to make the pattern on the window.
How it went
The kids were very excited when they saw the sticky notes. Bel and Nia have been doing “sticker” pixel art in books and loved it. They were both very good and very happy putting their designs up on the window.
The designing was a different story. Bel (7) took to it immediately and produced this (I don’t have a picture of the finished window art):
Nia (5) had a lot more trouble. She first drew a blue heart and colored it. Then I explained that each small square had to be one color and helped her figure out which square was mostly blue and got her to color those square entirely in blue. It kind of worked. Except she didn’t have enough fine motor control and the coloring bled into nearby squares, which turned mostly blue so they got colored too, ending with a nondescript blue blob. She got upset and we had to calm down and try again. We ended up with this (I didn’t take a picture of the window art either).
Both kids were really good at putting the design up on the window. Nia needed help keeping her first row straight but she did the rest by herself. she did grasp the transfer of the pattern to the window, where each square was a sticky note. They wanted to take it down right when they were finished so they could play with the sticky notes.
We did the same activity the next day too. Bel also had a design ready – and it was a struggle with Nia too. At some point, she ended up with the whole 9×8 grid colored in green (Nia also thought at the time that she could play with all the sticky notes she used once the art came off the window – hence the filling of the whole square). I got annoyed and told her that was not an acceptable design, erased it, and made her do another one. Here are the patterns and the finished products:
We will probably do this activity again. I might make Nia a pattern next time.
A side note
I haven’t been posting lately because I was a bit low on energy. We have fallen into a sort of routine with more outdoor time and fewer math activities. But then today, I realized that, of all the interesting math activities I see online, very few of them are aimed at young kids so I am posting this.
Math Circle for Girls (and Boys) 
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