How to Make a Circle Geoboard
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Today I am going to teach you how to make a circle geoboard. Have you ever seen those cool circle geoboards? Â I saw some pictures of them recently and thought it would be really fun to make our own! Â You can make this geoboard with nails and a square of wood.
Here’s the best part, my 8-year-old pretty much made this whole thing- with a little guidance from me. Â That gives you an indication of how easy this is!
This week on my site I am focused on Math Art! Â I have an awesome Math Art Series I am running right now with 20 other bloggers participating. You have got to check out some of the amazing ideas being shared! Â This is in celebration of the launch of my book Math Art and Drawing Games for Kids.
How to Make a Circle Geoboard
Watch it in action:
Supplies:
A Square Piece of Wood (mine was 11 x 11) I got it for free from the wood scraps at Home Depot. They have leftover pieces that people cut and leave behind.
Sandpaper
About 50 nails (a few extras just in case you bend one)
Circle Geoboard Template (Download available in my Free Subscriber Library)
Rubber bands to play with it when complete.
This was a really easy project, and so fun to play with once it is done. Â We made it in less than hour.
Start by getting a square of wood anywhere from about 10-12 inches square should be perfect. You could make a smaller one if you want, you will just need to reduce the template size.
Sand the edges of the wood so it is smooth and slightly rounded. Â This will protect kids fingers when playing with it.
Print the Circle Geoboard Template.
Sign up here to download the template:
Line it up on your board and nail in the center nail. Â I just nailed right through the paper when I made ours. Â If you don’t want to do it this way, you could also poke holes through each of the dots and make pencil marks on your board.
Once you have your center point in, do each of the four corners. This will keep your paper straight and aligned through the rest of the project.
Continue nailing in a nail for each dot on the template. Â Try your best to make the height of the nails as even as possible. Â Be careful not to go through the other side of the board when nailing them in! Â We had a couple that went through our wood and had to flatten them out on the back side.
Once they are all nailed in, tear off the paper.
How to Make a Circle Geoboard
Try out this DIY homemade circle shaped geoboard for math activities.
- 1 square Wood
- 50 Nails
- Rubber Bands
- Cut and sand a piece of wood into a square (ours is 12×12). Smooth the edges to prevent splinters.
- Print a circle geoboard template.
- Align it on your board and nail the corners on first to keep it straight.
- Nail in the rest of the nails where ever there is a dot. Make sure to get them as even as possible.
- Tear the paper off after all of the nails are in place.
- Play with the geoboard and create geometric and mathematical designs!
Be careful not to hammer the nails through the other side of the piece of wood. If it happens, you can hammer them from the bottom side to smooth them out and prevent injury.
Using the Circle Geoboard
Geoboards are awesome for teaching math concepts. The fun of the circle one is that you can do circle fractions. You can teach area and perimeter and diameter. You can make radial designs with symmetry that are tons of fun!
We were doing pie fractions and it ended up as a peace sign!
And one more fun creation we made:
Want to Download the Circle Geoboard Template?
This is a free download for subscribers. Â Sign up here to get access!
I have another older tutorial for how to make a geoboard here. Â This is for a standard square one. Â So if that’s what you are looking for, go check that one out, too.
See more Math Art Projects!
