National Chemistry Week - Experiments - How to Make Six-Sided Snowflakes

WHAT YOU WILL NEED:

• a 15 cm x 15 cm (or 15 cm diameter circle) piece of paper
• scissors

WHAT TO DO:

1. The first fold in the paper should be in half. See figure l.
2. Fold one side of the paper over at an angle of 60^o. See figure 2.
3. The next fold should be the same but on the other side making all the edges line up. See figure 3.
4. Fold the entire paper down the centre line. See figure 4.
5. You are now prepared to cut out your pattern and this is where the children's imaginations come in. See figure 5 and the illustration for a suggestion.

Snowflakes have six points because of the way water molecules hold hands inside snowflakes. This is also the way snowflake models were made on Super Snowflakes.