Make a paper snowflake
Take a square or circular piece of paper. Fold it in half, then fold it again. You can fold it one more time if you want a more detailed pattern.
Now carefully cut small shapes from the folded edges: triangles, semicircles, zigzags or tiny notches.
Unfold the paper.
What happened to each cut? How many matching copies appeared?
Can you find all the fold lines in your finished snowflake? Which of them are lines of symmetry?
What changes if you fold the paper one extra time before cutting?
Every fold acts like a mirror line. When you cut through several folded layers at once, the same cut appears in several reflected positions when the paper is opened.
Snowflake Symmetry
Print the template, fold the paper, cut your own shapes and then investigate the symmetry you created.
In the next activity, repeated reflections will create patterns that also have rotational symmetry.