Making Valentines is a great way to learn about symmetry.

The simplest type of symmetry is reflection symmetry. In this type of symmetry, one side of an object reflects the other side. This is the type of symmetry we see if we place a mirror in the middle of something, so we see the one half reflected to make a whole.

It’s also the type of symmetry you get when you fold a piece of paper in half, and then cut out a shape while leaving the fold at least partially in tact.

This is the way I taught my 6-year-old how to cut hearts. It’s probably the way most of us learned. We folded the paper in half, and then cut half a heart shape. We talked about how cutting in this way – by starting and ending at the folded edge of the paper – would create a shape where each side of the fold would be an exact reflection of the other side, with the fold itself being the Line of Symmetry.

This allowed me to introduce the mathematical principal of symmetry while we were doing something fun. It also allowed him to learn about and utilize technical mathematical terms in a hands-on manner.

Not only is this a great way to introduce the concept of symmetry (more complex symmetry, such as Rotational Symmetry, will wait until another day), making Valentines hearts is also a fantastic way to practice drawing and scissor skills. Both of these work planning and fine motor skill development.

If the child draws the shape first – mine did not – then you have the planning skills of drawing, as well as the cutting of both a curve and a straight line.

If, like my son, your child simply wants to jump into cutting, then she has to plan inside her head, and conceptualize what the final shape will look like if she cuts in a particular manner.

While my 6-year-old is quite adept with scissors, we also set my toddler up with a pair. For him, working with scissors helps him to work the skill of hand separation (using the fingers of his hand independently, as to cut he’s working the thumb, index, and middle fingers separately from his ring finger and pinky). And while the language of symmetry is beyond him, my toddler was able to experience symmetry, and develop some intuitive knowledge of what happens when he cut [a very non-heart shape] from a piece of paper.