M. C. Escher

M C Escher created his ‘tiles’ by basing them on shapes that he knew to tessellate such as triangles, hexagons and quadrilaterals.

Today, we are going to create our own Escher-style tessellations by starting with a rectangle and making careful changes ensuring that it will still tessellate

Take your rectangle – 6cm x 8cm Fishy Tessellations 1 Take your rectangle – 6cm x 8cm Mark the midpoint of each side

Cut it out and keep it safe! Fishy Tessellations 2 Draw a curve like this: Cut it out and keep it safe!

Rotate the shape you have just cut out Fishy Tessellations 3 Rotate the shape you have just cut out Place it here

Fishy Tessellations 4 Repeat on the bottom

Cut out a triangle like this: Fishy Tessellations 5 Cut out a triangle like this:

Rotate and attach like so: Fishy Tessellations 6 Rotate and attach like so: Be careful on this step. Many people don’t rotate their shape. If you are unsure – ask.

Stick your pieces carefully onto the card Fishy Tessellations 7 Stick your pieces carefully onto the card Cut it out. This is your template.

Some examples…