Imitating Escher

M.C. Escher is a graphic artist known for his tessellations*. His art is enjoyed by millions of people all over the world. He created visual riddles, playing with the pictorially logical and the visually impossible.

What made Escher's pictures so appealing was that he used tessellations to create optical illusions. He also gave them depth by adding shade.  Escher illustrated books, designed tapestries, postage stamps and murals. He was born in Leeuwarden, the Netherlands, as the fourth and youngest son of a civil engineer.
*Tessellation: A tessellation is created when a shape is repeated over and over again covering a plane without any gaps or overlaps.

In this lesson Kindergarten, 1st and 2nd graders were shown artwork created by Escher.  They had the opportunity to study his optical illusions and tessellations.  They were challenged to identify the various shapes in the pictures and comment on what they "see" in the pictures.  They were taught that a tessellation is a repetition of shapes that do not overlap or leave spaces in between.

The Kindergarten class colored in a ready-made tessellation picture while the 1st and 2nd graders created their own template from a parent square.  Each shape on the upper/lower side is compensated for by a congruent "hole" on the lower/upper side. The same is true of the left/right sides.  I found an excellent lesson from Art Projects for Kids.

Students then traced their template, repeating the shape and nesting the template so the picture is without gaps or overlaps, as seen in this 2nd grader's picture below:

2nd grader with her tessellation picture from a template she created

What proved to be a challenge for some students, was very easy for others.  In the 1st and 2nd grades there was definitely a spectrum of ability.  Students added their own special details and color to the assignment: