Icosahedron Christmas Ornament Project

I. Make pattern

1. On back of Christmas card or similar weight paper, use a compass to construct a circle with a radius ranging from 1 cm to 2 cm.
2. Keeping the radius the same, mark off six radii on the circle. The marks should all be exactly the same distance apart. If you marked one more, it should fall right on top of the first place where you put the point of your compass.
3. Connect every other mark to form an equilateral triangle.

II. Prepare 20 circles for construction

1. Trace 20 circles onto the decorative half of the Christmas card. Be sure to put the pencil marks on the back side so they won’t show later!!!!
2. Put marks where the vertices of the equilateral triangle should be.
3. Connect the vertices to form an equilateral triangle in each of the 20 circles. The more accurate the triangle, the better the final project will be.
4. Crease the circles on the chords that are the sides of the equilateral triangle. Crease so that the Christmas decoration is cupped inside.

III. Glue the circles

1. Glue tab to tab always having 5 circles coming together before you close the group.
2. Once you begin, look for unfinished groups where you can place your next circle.

IV. Finishing

1. Finish edges with fabric paint (very carefully) if desired.
2. Punch hole in a tab.
3. Put string through so that the ornament can be hung.

V. Other Suggestions

• Put together four of the circles to form a tetrahedron.
• Put together eight circles to form an octahedron.
• Inscribe a square instead of a triangle and put together six of the circles to form a hexahedron.
• Inscribe a pentagon and put together 12 circles to form a dodecahedron…this one’s a little tougher!!!
• Turn the tabs to the inside so that the surface is smoother.
• Have the students look through cards and carefully pick the circles so that the product has a theme.
• Have students decorate plain circles and draw pictures to illustrate a particular theme.
• Have students use other media for circles and/or decorate with unique materials.
• Younger students enjoy using gumdrops and toothpicks to make the shapes.

VI. Materials needed:

• Christmas cards or similar weight paper
• Elmer’s glue we’ve tried others and always come back to Elmer’s
• Scissors
• Straight edge
• Pen or pencil
• Compass
• Yarn
• Hole Punch
• Glitter Paint
• Ziplock baggies if students will need more than one session to complete project.

VII. Photos of some of our projects

• Made from photographs of student's horses
• Several unique projects
• Project finished with glitter paint
• Project made from Mountain Dew can
• Platonic Solids other than Icosahedron