Discuss the various concepts of elementary math that your class has learned so far. Talk with students about what they enjoyed the most and what they struggled with the most. Allow them to verbally express themselves and how they feel about math before moving on to the project.
Reassure your students that most people struggle with some concepts in math and seem to feel a sense of satisfaction when the problem works out correctly. In general this is how life works as well. The project your students are going to be working on can be done as a group decision, on a topic of your choice, or by the choice of the individual. The idea is to have a bit of fun with numbers so that students can feel more comfortable in dealing with them. After all, written work in itself is art and math is written work.
When you and your students have decided on a concept, instruct them to make an art project that reflects a concept in math as well as how they feel about it. Give them some free reign to do this but limit the size of the project based on classroom space. You can either let them choose their format or designate one for them. The point is that they are going to express a mathematical concept and their feelings about it using art. Some examples are below.
- Fractions- If a student enjoys doing fractions, they may make an equally divided cartoon depicting themselves doing math work.
- Prime numbers- Some students are fascinated with the idea of prime numbers. They might make a collage whose groups of items are all organized into prime numbers.
- Number sequence- Students who enjoy counting may even create a dot-to-dot picture that they can do.
This project can be as simple or as hard as you want it to be. As you ask your students to combine elementary math and art, you may give them as much free reign as you like or make the parameters as limited as you like. For instance, if the children are just learning to count by 5s, you may ask them to create their own dot-to-dot by 5s.
