Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Recommended Resources Patterns in nature - book

I need some help from the math parents out there. DS6 is interested in patterns in nature and why they occur.

Any one have a book recommendation that might cover this in a way that is interesting and accessible to a six year old?

My kids are older now, and I can't remember specific titles, but I would search for books about Fibonacci; I think we found several good ones. There was a math section in the children's library that had several books like this. You might also search for things on fractals, even snowflake books might have some of what he's interested in.

He might also enjoy Vi Hart's YouTube videos, I know there is one on Fibonacci, but many are about patterns (maybe not so much about nature, though).

Basically had the same thoughts as cricket3, no specific book reference.

For hands on work, the Fibonacci sequence can be seen by counting the petals in each ring of a flower. I think corn kernel rows on a cob also are good for it. The Golden Ratio/Golden Number/Phi is also a fun discoverable number as it is rooted in the Fibonacci sequence, and it shows up in many places in nature (such as the human head width to height ratio.)

When my kid was 6 and interested in patterns in nature, these were some of the Fibonacci resources that were a hit:

Books:

- Blockhead: The Life of Fibonacci (Joseph D'Agnese). A compelling biography.
- Growing patterns: Fibonacci numbers in nature (Sarah C. Campbell). Cool photos.

Videos:
- Doodling in Math: Spirals, Fibonacci, and Being a Plant (Vi Hart) This may be one of videos Cricket was referring to.
- Nature by Numbers (Cristobal Vila) http://www.artofproblemsolving.com/Videos/external.php?video_id=11

A nice place to start with fractals may be Nova's "Hunting the Hidden Dimension"

Spending time outside finding patterns is always a pleasure, too:)

"Swirl by Swirl: Spirals in Nature" may be too young for your DS, but the illustrations are striking.

My kids loved Number Devil by Hans enzensberger. Might be a little old for him but check it out of the library when he gets older

Thanks. I now have several items to pick up at the library .

The disney video "Donald in Mathmagic land" has some of this. My math geek loves it.