Best suited for: Early, First & Second Level / Age 0-4, 5-7, 8-11
Maths involved: symmetry
Materials needed:
A4 sheet of green card or craft paper
A pencil
A pair of scissors
Paint in a couple of contrasting colours
A paintbrush
Instructions
It’s time to get the paints out for this activity, as we make some ‘Symmetrees’ (sorry, we couldn’t resist the pun…) We used acrylic paint as that’s what we had to hand, but you could use other paint too such as poster paint.
To protect your work surface, we also suggest putting down some larger sheets of paper or some newspaper before you start the painting part.
Step 1: Fold your sheet of green card in half.
Step 2: Lightly draw out half a tree, with the folded edge in the centre (i.e. the folded edge will be in the centre of your tree when you unfold it).
Step 3: Cut out the tree along the lines, cutting through both halves of the card. Do not cut off the folded edge!
Step 4: Unfold your tree.
Step 5: Now you can add little blobs of paint on ONE HALF OF THE TREE ONLY!
Step 6: Before the paint starts to dry, fold the unpainted half of the tree down on to the painted half. Gently press down on the folded tree, then carefully unfold it again straight away. Don’t wait to unfold, because it the paint starts to dry it will stick the two halves together!
You can hang your finished tree up on the wall. Or make a few trees and string them together as a garland – you can make them different sizes too. If you fold up the finished tree with the painted side on the outside, you could even use it as a card!
Maths Week Scotland is back for 2026 with the theme Maths Matters. To celebrate our tenth year, we will have an extended gala week running over two weekends, from Saturday 19 to Sunday 27 September.
It is almost time for the RSPB Big Schools’ Bird Watch – the largest citizen science project for schools across the UK. Sign up to take part, from 6th January- 13th February 2026.
