Folding
2 out of 3
What shapes can you make by folding an A4 piece of paper?
Problem
Take an A4 piece of paper ...
How small can you make it by folding?
How many different sorts of triangle can you produce by folding?
Can you produce four identical triangles?
What is the quickest way to produce a square?
Can you make other quadrilaterals by folding?
Or by folding a long sheet of paper ...
What can you produce?
Other shapes?
More folds?
Getting Started
You could use scrap paper!
Don't worry about trying too hard for this activity! Just have a go ...
Student Solutions
There are lots of answers to this problem, depending on precisely which questions you ask.
Have a go yourself, and if you discover anything interesting then email primary.nrich@maths.org to let us know!
Teachers' Resources
Using NRICH Tasks Richly describes ways in which teachers and learners can work with NRICH tasks in the classroom.
Why do this problem?
This exploratory task is accessible to all and therefore good for boosting children's confidence. It would make a good introductory activity for work on shape.
Key questions
Possible extension
Some learners will enjoy this activity about folding a sheet of paper to make an equilateral triangle.
Possible support
Pupils could start by folding into a rectangle.