This week in Math Art we created an art panel to illustrate a multiplication fact. Our plants had leaves broken into 2 sections; each section was doodled differently.  The students multiplied the 2 sections by the number of leaves they created to figure out their math fact.

Materials

• cardboard pieces from boxes
• gesso
• various paintbrushes
• acrylic paint
• plain colored paper for leaves and stem
• decorative paper
• mod podge
• fine tip permanent ink art marker, such as a Sharpie Fine Point Pen*

*It is important to use a permanent ink pen, or the doodles will smear when mod podge is applied.

Directions

1. Paint cardboard with gesso to prime it.  Let dry.  (Use hairdryer to speed up drying time).
2. Paint a background color on cardboard with acrylic paint.  Let dry.
3. On colored paper, draw leaf shapes.
   • Divide each leaf shape into sections.  You may choose 2, 3, 4 or more sections.  Each section will be doodled differently.
   • If you are working on a specific math fact, instruct the students to divide their leaves into that number of sections. For example, if you are creating, 6×4, you may have 6 leaves each with 4 sections, or 4 leaves each with 6 sections.
4. Decorate the leaves by doodling each section with zentangles.
   • Previous blog entries on zentangles include Purposeful Doodling, Today’s Doodles, and Doodle Animals.
   • We like the “Zentangle Basics” workbook series for doodle ideas.
   • You can find many zentangle patterns for free on the internet as well.
5. Cut out a slightly larger leaf from the decorative paper to mount under the doodled leaf.
6. Cut out a stem shape.
7. Use mod podge to apply all shapes to the dried cardboard.
8. Write out the math fact and mod podge it on the cardboard.