19+ Symmetry Activities for Kids (Printables + Reels)

Symmetry is like a cool math trick that helps us understand balance and patterns. Even little kids can start learning about it, which is super exciting!

When we talk about symmetry, we’re talking about shapes and designs that are perfectly balanced, like when you fold a piece of paper and both sides look the same. It’s not as tricky as it sounds, especially when we have fun activities to help us learn.

So, in this article, we’ll explore some awesome symmetry games and activities that are perfect for 3-5 grade students🧒🏻.

Why teach symmetry?

One of the most prevalent themes in art 🎨, design and architecture all over the world is – Symmetry. Symmetry is also regarded as one of the most powerful & pervasive concepts in mathematics.

Symmetry is present all around us in nature, and studying this concept can be as simple or advanced as the student requires. Nature activities often provide an excellent opportunity to explore symmetry in a hands-on way.

When seen in a broader context, symmetry paves the way to understanding the interconnectedness of mathematics with other branches of knowledge. 

Amazing Symmetry activities for Kids

Complete the Drawing Activity (4-8 Years)

This activity is a creative and educational development exercise, typically designed for children to develop their drawing and coloring skills.

Materials: Printed activity sheet with a half-drawn picture or you can print out our printable, crayons, markers, or colored pencils.

How to Do:

1. Look at the half-drawn image on the left side of the sheet. This will guide you on what the completed drawing should resemble.
2. Use a crayon or a marker to draw the missing parts on the right side of the picture. Try to mirror the lines and shapes from the left side as closely as possible.
3. Once the drawing is complete, use colors to fill in the picture, making sure to match the colors on both sides for a symmetrical look.

Popsicle Stick Symmetry Activity (3-8 Years)

This is a “Popsicle Stick Symmetry Activity,” perfect for exploring geometric shapes and symmetry using colored sticks. This hands-on activity is a fun way to learn about shapes and how to make them look the same on both sides.

Materials: Colored popsicle sticks and background sheet with a symmetry line drawn down the middle.

How to Do:

1. Arrange some popsicle sticks on one side of the symmetry line to make a shape or pattern.
2. Mirror the same shape or pattern on the other side of the line using the same colors and positions.
3. Adjust the sticks until both sides are identical.

Mirror Symmetry Activity (5-9 Years)

This activity is a “Mirror Symmetry Activity,” where you’ll create mirror images of incomplete pictures. You’ll be completing pictures so that both sides are the same, just like looking into a mirror.

Materials: Incomplete images on paper, pencil, eraser (in case of mistakes).

How to Do:

1. Look at the completed side of each image.
2. Carefully draw the missing half to make a mirror image.
3. Check your drawing by comparing both sides for symmetry.

Best Out of Waste Symmetry (3-8 Years)

This activity is a “Best Out of Waste Symmetry” craft where your child create a beautiful butterfly using recyclable materials. This craft is all about symmetry, which means both sides look the same.

Materials: Bottle caps in different sizes and colors, construction paper or cardboard, child-safe scissors, glue stick, colored markers, pipe cleaners for antennae.

How to Do:

1. Cut out a butterfly shape from your paper or cardboard.
2. Color the butterfly with markers or paint.
3. Arrange the bottle caps on one side of the butterfly in a pattern.
4. Use the glue to stick them down, then do the same on the other side, making sure it’s symmetrical, like the same on both sides.
5. Twist pipe cleaners to make antennae and glue them to the head.

Flag Symmetry Activity (5-10 Years)

This craft is a “Flag Symmetry Activity” that combines learning about world flags with the concept of symmetry.

Materials: Worksheet with half-flags printed on it or you can use our printable for that, scissors, glue stick.

How to Do:

1. Carefully cut out the flag halves that are not attached to the worksheet.
2. Match each cut-out half with the corresponding half-flag on the worksheet.
3. Use the glue to stick the halves in place, making sure the edges line up to complete the flag symmetrically.

Line Symmetry Activity (5-8 Years)

This activity is a “Line Symmetry Activity,” ideal for learning about symmetry through shapes and lines.

Materials: Worksheet with various shapes and lines..for that use our printable, pencil or marker.

How to Do:

1. Examine each shape on the worksheet to see if the line drawn through it divides it into two equal parts.
2. If the line correctly creates symmetry, circle that shape.
3. If the line does not create symmetry, you can draw a correct line of symmetry or simply move to the next shape.

Color Symmetry Activity (4-7 Years)

This activity is a “Color Symmetry Activity” that involves completing and coloring a picture to learn about symmetry. It’s time to bring a little lion to life with symmetrical colors. This coloring page is half done, and you get to finish the other half.

Materials: Provided lion coloring sheet with a dotted line down the middle or use our printable, colored pencils or crayons (yellow, orange, and any other colors you like), eraser (just in case).

How to Do:

1. Start by tracing over the dotted line to understand where the middle of the picture is.
2. Look at the colored side of the lion and choose a colored pencil that matches.
3. Carefully color the opposite side to match the colors on the already completed side.
4. Try to stay within the lines for a neat finish.

Leaf Symmetry Activity (5-8 Years)

This activity is a “Leaf Symmetry Activity,” which is a wonderful way to appreciate the natural symmetry in leaves while engaging in a hands-on learning experience. This activity combines art, science, and a bit of outdoor fun, making it perfect for natural activities.

Materials: Various leaves from different plants, a sheet of paper with leaf halves drawn on it, markers or colored pencils, glue (optional).

How to Do:

1. Start by placing a leaf next to the half-leaf drawing on your paper.
2. Try to find a real leaf that matches the shape and size of the drawn half.
3. Once you have the right leaf, you can either draw the other half to match or glue the leaf onto the paper for a more textured look.

Dot Sticker Symmetry Activity (3-6 Years)

This activity is a “Dot Sticker Symmetry Activity,” which is great for hand-eye coordination and understanding symmetry. In this activity, you’ll be creating colorful patterns that are the same on both sides of a line.

Materials: Sheet of paper with a grid and a centerline, dot stickers in various colors.

How to Do:

1. Start with your paper grid. It has a line down the middle to help you.
2. Place one sticker in a square on one side of the line.
3. Find the same color sticker and put it in the matching square on the opposite side.
4. Keep going, adding stickers and making sure each side mirrors the other.

Touch and Feel Symmetry (3-7 Years)

This is a “Touch and Feel Symmetry Activity” that introduces hands on elements to learning about symmetry. In this activity, you’ll create symmetrical designs that are not only a treat for the eyes but also for the fingers.

Materials: Paper cut into various shapes, pipe cleaners, fabric or textured paper, glue, scissors.

How to Do:

1. Choose a shape and decorate half of it with pipe cleaners along the edges to outline the shape.
2. Use glue to attach fabric or textured paper to fill the shape if you wish.
3. Create the other half of the shape with the same materials, making sure it matches the first half exactly.

Fruits or Vegetable Symmetry Activity (3-7 Years)

This is a “Fruits or Vegetables Symmetry Activity” that combines the beauty of nature’s bounty with the fun of puzzle solving. In this activity, you’ll piece together halves of different fruits to form a symmetrical whole, just like completing a puzzle.

Materials: Puzzle pieces with fruit halves printed on them for that…use our printable, flat surface for puzzle assembly.

How to Do:

1. Cut all fruit pieces from printable and spread out all the puzzle pieces on your surface.
2. Pick up one piece and look for its matching half based on the shape and image of the fruit.
3. When you find a match, put the two halves together to complete the fruit picture.

Paper Pattern Symmetry Activity (4-8 Years)

This craft is a “Paper Pattern Symmetry Activity,” focusing on creating symmetrical patterns using paper cutouts. You’ll cut and glue to make each tree perfectly balanced on both sides.

Materials: Green construction paper, scissors, glue, ruler (optional for straight edges).

How to Do:

1. Fold a piece of green paper in half.
2. Cut out half a tree shape along the fold.
3. Unfold to reveal a symmetrical tree and glue it onto another piece of paper to create a forest scene.

Shape Symmetry Activity (3-6 Years)

This craft is a “Shape Symmetry Activity,” designed to teach about symmetrical shapes in a fun and interactive way. Use colorful paper cut-outs to learn how shapes can be symmetrical. It’s a great way to see how each shape has a matching half.

Materials: Different colored paper cut into various shapes, a long stick or ruler to represent the line of symmetry.

How to Do:

1. Lay out the ruler or stick in the center of your work area to create a line of symmetry.
2. Place a shape on one side of the line.
3. Find the matching shape and place it directly opposite the first shape on the other side of the line, making sure the sides align perfectly.

Emotions Symmetry Activity (3-6 Years)

In this creative development activity, you’ll be making faces that show different feelings. The twist? You’ll make each face symmetrical, which means the same on both sides.

Materials: Paper cut into circles and semi-circles, black marker, centerline drawn on your background paper.

How to Do:

1. Choose a paper circle or semi-circle.
2. With the marker, draw an emotion on one half. It could be happy, sad, surprised any feeling you like!
3. Now, try to draw the same expression on the other half to make it symmetrical.
4. Place your finished emotion faces along the centerline on your background paper.

Blocks Symmetry Activity (3-8 Years)

This craft is a “Blocks Symmetry Activity” that uses building blocks to teach and explore the concept of symmetry. You’ll make two sides that match perfectly, just like a butterfly’s wings, making it a building blocks activity.

Materials: Building blocks in various colors and sizes, a long stick or ruler to act as the symmetry line.

How to Do:

1. Place the stick or ruler in the middle of your workspace to represent the line of symmetry.
2. Choose a few blocks and arrange them on one side of the stick.
3. Now, try to create the exact same pattern on the other side of the stick, using the same colors and shapes in the same order.

Learning symmetry with Jewellery making (5-10 Years)

Jewelry making is definitely a fun task if your kid is excited with the multiple colors and jewelry pieces. Sit with your children 👶 and draw what you both would want to make.

The thought that goes behind such designs will help the kid learn a lot about symmetry without even knowing about it. It is the natural instinct that will push him/her to learn and do great things in symmetry learning.

Once the design is decided, make sure to let the kid put all the pieces of jewelry together. You can either make a necklace or a bracelet 📿 as it gives a good idea of symmetry.

Letting kids know that understanding symmetry can solve such real-world problems will be a great motivator for them to develop their problem-solving skills.

What’s wrong with this picture? (4-6 Years)

When you show children things relevant to their lives, they will understand them faster and better. When things are about them, they relate to it easily.  

You can start with a child’s face for this activity. You need to sketch his/her face while muddling up all the features. Do not keep the eyes 👀 in the same line; keep one ear big and one small. Also, you can keep the mouth to the side of the face instead of the center.  

Sit with your kid and ask them, “what’s wrong with this picture?”. Find out all the things that are wrong and then start re-drawing it accurately.  

This activity will help the kid understand that there’s an imaginary line drawn in the center of the face. Also, let them know that both sides of the imaginary line look the same. 

Talk more about symmetry (4-6 Years)

The face activity should be the starting point of your discussion about symmetry with a child. Explain to them that symmetry is like a mirror image of each other. Give them examples from real life about symmetry.  

Kids 👶 will look at objects and divide them with a line through the center. They will find out that two sides of the object look similar.

Speak with them more about the human body. Ask them to draw an imaginary line with fingers that will divide their body into two halves, a simple yet engaging activity related to human body activities.Question them on- 

• What is there on both sides of the imaginary line?
• Is there a difference in size or length of a body part 🦵 in both halves?
• Number of fingers 👉 on each hand
• Folding the body into halves and would they match equally?

From this, you can head towards nature to find more such examples. You can also try out some books which deal exclusively with symmetry for kids. 

Look for symmetry in letters (4-6 Years)

The combination of symmetry and literature is a great idea, as kids find it extremely exciting. Start with writing a letter 📝 on a sticky note, place it on a table, and then put a mirror right in the center.

Does the mirror complete the letter with its reflection? Let your kids find it out and place the mirror exactly on the imaginary line. 

This builds their confidence in understanding where the imaginary line remains for different shapes. 

Symmetry in images (2-6 Years)

Browse through books that have examples of symmetry. You can also check out the internet to get such images of nature 🌿. 

A housefly is one of the most versatile examples of symmetry in animals. When divided by an imaginary line, both sides are precisely similar to each other. 

With such practice, children will start looking for symmetry in all the animals they see. Leaves and plants will also play a similar role as children can create symmetry out of them.

Check out nature’s symmetry (5-8 Years)

Head out with your child and look for examples of symmetry in the real world. Observing nature is always a best practice. 

Visit a nearby garden and check out the leaves, branches, flowers 🌸, and butterflies. Talk with the kid about whether he/she can divide them with an imaginary line that matches both halves. 

Try taking a leave and ask your child to divide it with the imaginary line and then fold it to see if both halves match or not. This happens to be the most practical example of symmetry. 

Model making or drawing next to a mirror (3-6 Years)

This can be simply done by attaching the mirror to the side of a box. Children can either create stick models or draw things just beside the mirror. It teaches the kids about symmetry very spontaneously. 

Ask your child to draw half of something and the mirror 🔲 reflection should complete the entire drawing. The most popular example would be to draw a half-butterfly and allow the mirror to complete the rest of it.   

Paper folding activity (4-6 Years)

Try and take out time to explore shapes that have a fine line of symmetry. Give children paper cutouts of ovals, circles, hearts, and diamonds 💎 and let them fold it. If they fold it perfectly down the middle while matching the sides, they are on the right path to understanding symmetry. 

Soon start giving them more complex shapes such as pentagons & hexagons. Give them such shapes which do not fold at the center. 

Such paper folding activity will also help the kid to build better motor skills simultaneously. 

Funny Moments

By doing these activities, you know very well that symmetry is all about balance, but as we discovered in our latest activities, the path to balance can be filled with fun too.

I would like to share some unforgettable moments that made our experiences even more memorable. Enjoy these quirky tales and try not to laugh! 😄

The Dot Sticker Symmetry Activity was going well until one child decided to see how many dots he could stick on his partner instead of the paper. 😅

So, I hope you enjoy our content, these are some simple and easy symmetry activities for kids 👶. Once they get the hang of these, they will develop a love for symmetry, which will help train their brain better for the following stages. 

Share your experience with us, we would love to hear 😉

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