Pascal’s Triangle Christmas Tree Math

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Have you ever heard or Pascal’s Triangle? It is a cool number pattern named after Blaise Pascal, a famous French Mathematician and Philosopher. I took this triangle and turned it into a Christmas Tree math activity.

A little history behind Pascal’s Triangle first- because I always love to know the facts about it!  Blaise Pascal, although we name it after him, was not the first one to have worked with his mathematical pattern. There are records of it in many ancient countries. Pascal innovated it and wrote about it in his math books in the 1600’s. Following is his version.

I have taken his method and made it into a fun modern activity that kids will enjoy!

To build the triangle, start with “1” at the top, then continue placing numbers below it in a triangular pattern. All of the outside ones have a one in them.  Then you add together the two numbers above it for each triangle going down. Since I built it entirely out of triangles, on this tree, you only write the numbers on the ones facing upwards.

Each number is the numbers directly above it added together.

Then you can color it in fun patterns! There are a ton of different patterns within the numbers. Try to see how many different patterns you can find!

I created a set of Pascal’s Triangle printables that you can use. There are a few different versions. I made one with larger triangles and less numbers to fill in so you an teach the concept to older and younger kids. I also used the same two triangle sets and removes the star and trunk so you can use it even when it is not holiday time!

How to Download the Pascal’s Triangle Math Activity:

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Interested in more holiday STEAM ideas?  Check out my latest book STEAM Kids Christmas!