Olympic rings
Can you design your own version of the Olympic rings, using interlocking squares instead of circles?
Five coloured interlocking rings have been the symbol of the Olympics for over a hundred years.
What colours can you see?
Have a look at the way they interlock. How would you describe the picture?
Other shapes can be linked in a similar way.
Have a go at linking five squares. You might like to use this interactivity to experiment with linking the squares together.
You can drag squares around with the mouse, and click on overlaps to toggle which of the lines should be in front/on top.
There are control buttons to let you rotate each of the five squares clockwise or anticlockwise.
Show keyboard controls
You can press tab to move between controls and overlaps.
You can press space to toggle an overlap, if an overlap is selected, or use the 'rotate clockwise' button if rotation controls are selected.
You can press the control button to use the rotate anticlockwise button if rotation controls are selected.
You can press the arrow buttons to move a square around if rotation controls are selected.
Once you've linked the squares together, have a go at using some physical resources to make your design in real life. What do you notice about your design?
We had just three responses sent in for the Olympic Rings. One from DMW at KJ School who sent in this picture they had created.
The Maths Club at Padnell Junior School in England sent in this idea;
Have all the the rings going in a circle standing for the Olympic O from black to blue to red to yellow to green.
Class 2 at Seal School, Selsey really got their imaginations working and sent some lovely ideas. These are our favourites:
We like the use of different shapes instead of the rings.
Thank you for these and maybe some others will respond later in the year.
Why do this problem?
This problem is intended to get children to look really hard at a pattern of linked shapes, and to consider how the linking in a picture translates to a 3D representation. It is easy to glance at something, recognise it, and not know afterwards how it really looked.
Possible approach
You could start by showing the whole group the ring design on a whiteboard.
What can they say about the picture? What colours? What shapes? How are they joined? If they were real would they fall apart?
Next, they could have a go at drawing five squares and linking them together, or using the interactivity to play around with this. What do they notice about their design?
Provide some time for children to make their designs using physical resources. It would be nice to give children different options for which resources they could use. These might include: pre-made resources such as Lego or K'nex rods; rolled up paper and masking tape; and spaghetti sticks and Blu Tack. Children might also have different ideas about what they could use to make their designs!
At the end of the lesson the whole group could come together again and discuss their different ideas. What different ways of linking five squares are there?
Key questions
What can you tell me about the picture?
What shape are the rings?
How are they joined?
If they were real would they fall apart?
How many 'joins' are there in your design? How do you know?
Possible extension
Learners could see if they can find any ways of linking the squares in the interactivity that are not possible to make in real life. They might also like to investigate using different shapes, or linking more than five shapes together.
Possible support
Some children will benefit from using physical resources right from the beginning, rather than drawing their designs or using the interactivity.
Information about the Olympic rings:
The symbol of the Olympic Games is composed of five interlocking rings, coloured blue, yellow, black, green, and red on a white field. This was originally designed in 1912 by Baron Pierre de Coubertin, the founder of the modern Olympic Games.
The five Olympic rings represent the five continents involved in the Olympics, were adopted in 1914 and had their debut at the 1920 Games. They stood for five regions that participated at Antwerp, 1920.
The symbol is copyright protected, which is why there is a link and no direct copy of it in this activity.