<aside> <img src="/icons/compose_gray.svg" alt="/icons/compose_gray.svg" width="40px" />

Activity: Design a pattern!

<aside>

Materials & Tools

• Graph Paper, ideally pre-cut into perfect squares
• Pencils (with erasers)
• Scissors
• Clear Tape
• Coloring Materials (Crayons, markers, etc)
• Construction Paper / Colored Paper / Cardstock </aside>

Instructions

Participants can choose between a 4-sided tessellation, a straight repeat, or both.

<aside>

Tessellation

1. Draw a line that starts and ends on the left side of your square paper.
2. Cut along this line, and move it over to the right-hand side of the paper, so the two straight edges are aligned. Tape these together.
3. Repeat this with the top edge, drawing a line, cutting, and taping it to the bottom edge.
4. Repeat until you are happy with your shape.
5. Use this final shape as a stencil to draw on or cut your tessellation out of other papers. </aside>

<aside>

Straight Repeat

1. Draw something in the center of your graph paper.
2. Starting and ending on the left-hand edge, use the scissors to cut around the item you’ve drawn.
3. Move this piece of paper you cut off to the opposite side of your canvas. Use the grid lines to make sure it’s correctly aligned. Tape the two pieces together.
4. Draw a new thing over the taped seam as if it were not there.
5. Starting and ending on the top edge, use the scissors to cut around the new item you’ve drawn.
6. Move this piece of paper you cut off to the bottom side of your canvas. Use the grid lines to make sure it’s correctly aligned. Tape the two pieces together.
7. Repeat until you are happy with your pattern.
8. Carefully cut the taped edges apart. Fit the pieces back together like puzzle pieces into their original square shape. Re-tape the pieces back together.
9. Use this square pattern swatch as your repeat pattern swatch! You can use tracing paper or a light box to transfer the pattern to other surfaces. </aside>

</aside>

<aside>

Printable Work Sheets

Level 1

This is the activity the participants could do if the main activity feels too complicated:

Level 2

This is the primary activity we’ll be doing.

Level 3

We will be doing a Straight Repeat in this workshop. The printout below has examples of more complex repeating patterns participants can try out on their own:

</aside>

<aside> <img src="/icons/slideshow-play_gray.svg" alt="/icons/slideshow-play_gray.svg" width="40px" />

Presentation

Click the ▶ arrow to expand each section.

<aside> 🧬

Patterns are Human Evolution

</aside>

<aside> 📜

Patterns are Human History

</aside>

<aside> 🫂

Patterns are Human Connection

</aside>

</aside>

<aside>

Examples of Modern Pattern Design

</aside>

<aside>

Resources

</aside>