Paper crafts are a world of creative diversity. Many paper figures were invented by mathematicians. For example, Flexagon, a world-famous craft, was also invented by a mathematics student at Princeton University Arthur Stone in 1939. What is entertaining flexagon? How to make a variety of flexcars and please children?
Funny paper craft
The Latin word ( flectere ) itself, which forms the basis of the name, means to bend or fold. Therefore, a flexagon is a polygon that can be created from an ordinary strip of white paper. Each time, bending the polygon, we find a new plane.
What does a flexagon look like? How to make this figure right? Usually they make a hexagonal flat flexagon, since it is the simplest. Using a variety of drawings on these planes, we can please children with an unusual craft, and involving them in creating both a flat and a three-dimensional figure is also useful.
Flexagon: how to make paper?
Where to begin? So, we decided to create a flexagon. How to make a craft fast? A polygon is easily and quickly assembled from one sheet of any paper, but it is advisable to choose not too soft. The quadrangular flexagons are called tetraflexagons. And a figure in the shape of a hexagon is called a hexaflexagon. Each surface has 6 sectors-triangles. There are octaflexagon cars (8 sides) and dodecaflexagon cars (10 sides). How to make a flexagon from paper? The schemes are very diverse. Consider the simplest one, by which an ordinary hexaflexagon is made. This scheme is used most often.
It is easy to draw it yourself, because it consists only of a group of regular triangles. But you can use the already painted scheme, according to which the first time it is easier to assemble the craft. After the scheme is cut out, bend the sheet in half and fold it in stages, bending down each triangle that forms part of a separate plane. When the flexagon is fully assembled, glue the last part.
Each of the 4 surfaces will have its own pattern. Having studied this scheme, you can go further to work creatively. On a regular sheet of paper, draw the same triangles. Then we number the sectors that form the planes. Triangles, according to the instructions, must be bent down, forming the necessary polygon. But everyone chooses his own method, as it is more convenient to fold. Similarly to this scheme, any polygon-flexagon is assembled. More complex patterns of figures are better to master gradually.
Flexagon Postcard
The mathematical model-flexagon will certainly interest the child. This amazing property of paper can be applied in a variety of ways. On the surface of the finished figure, we depict the characters of children's cartoons and present the child with brilliant proof that mathematical models can be interesting.
You can also come up with a great and unusual postcard, and this is not a joke. How to make a flexagon postcard? If you draw on the surfaces congratulatory words for the child and Christmas toys, this will be a great New Year present. But if your drawings do not work well, find another way. You can simply cut out your favorite picture and divide it into equal triangles, which then have to be carefully glued to each sector of the craft
Volumetric products - variety of harmony
There are still voluminous figures. How to make a bulk flexagon from paper? To do this, you need to take for example a ready-made diagram, which consists of 10 equilateral triangles serving as sectors. This figure is called trihexaflexagon - that is, this volumetric hexagon will have three surfaces. Of course, this is not the limit. The model can contain 4, 5 surfaces, and even 10. These flexcars are more interesting, although they are based on the same idea. But to collect such a miracle is not so simple. The main rule when building a model is to follow the instructions. The hexaflexagon scheme with 4 surfaces will look like this:
And here is an example by which an even more grandiose figure is going - nonaghexaflexagon. That is, a volumetric flexagon with six angles, and the surfaces are already 9. This toy is already for adults, a child cannot master such a model, in any case, without the help of his parents.
To understand the intricacies of the circuit of this three-dimensional figure, it will take time. It is better to decorate the blank immediately with different colors so as not to get confused during assembly. Give it a try!