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Giant Origami Dodecahedron
Giant Origami Dodecahedron
I always get questions about how I made the Origami Dodecahedron. I found a helpful tutorial on YouTube and used 11″×11″ Post-It Notes (from Amazon) for a larger, playful version. I even reinforced the structure with glue — and after several play sessions, added staples to keep it sturdy.
The whole project took me a couple hours. Folding the larger sheets takes a little extra time than with smaller paper, but that makes the result even more satisfying. The giant paper model was an instant hit -- the kids always ask if they can wear it like a hat!
What really stands out is how well this activity blends creativity, craftsmanship, and geometry. Folding the dodecahedron isn’t just “arts and crafts” — because origami engages spatial reasoning, symmetry, and geometric thinking, it works beautifully as a hands-on lesson in a geometry class.
If you’re looking for a fun, tactile project that’s more than just decorative — something that teaches geometry through hands-on folding while still being silly and playful — I can’t recommend the Origami Dodecahedron enough. It’s a craft you and friends (or a class full of students) will enjoy building and showing off.
My Supply List (Items are Linked):
11"x11" Post-It Notes (You will need to make 30 modular units = 30 Post-It Notes)
Conic Section Models
Conic Section Models
Conic sections can be explored in a fun, hands-on way using simple materials like party hats and cardstock. I originally made these models for Precalculus classes. A party hat serves as a ready-made cone, while a sheet of cardstock represents a flat plane slicing through it. By holding the cardstock at different angles against the cone and tracing where the two surfaces intersect, students can visualize how familiar curves emerge from a three-dimensional object.
When the cardstock is held horizontally, the intersection forms a circle. Tilting the cardstock slightly creates an ellipse, while aligning it parallel to the side of the cone produces a parabola. Tilting the cardstock more steeply so it would pass through both sides of a double cone results in a hyperbola. This activity highlights a powerful idea in mathematics: circles, ellipses, parabolas, and hyperbolas all come from the same shape—only the angle of the slice changes.
To create these models, after I sliced the hats at different angles and reassembled them with sheets of cardstock in between (held together with hot glue) to visualize the different conic sections.
My Supply List (Items are Linked):
The R3 Graphing Box
The R3 Graphing Box
IMG_3399.MOVThe R3 Graphing Box A hands-on, computer-free way for students to visualize basic 3D analytic geometry concepts typically covered in a Calculus III course. The entire box is covered in packing tape, making it dry-erase!
Some topics I introduced with it in my Calc III class:
the general vibe of 3D space & plotting 3D points
the idea of slicing 3D figures into 2D cross-sections
turning a 2D line into a 3D plane
parallelepipeds
integrating over a rectangular area
cylindrical and spherical coordinates
McNeese DMS Office Art
McNeese DMS Office Art
McNeese Department of Mathematical Sciences Office Art. Haile Gilroy (2023). Acrylic mural. McNeese DMS Faculty and Staff submitted their "favorite thing in math".
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