Fractals

After Hero caught me reading this article, and asked what's that picture, I had to go ask one of my expert: my BIL. He informed me that it's a fractal, and my son immediately wanted to learn about them. Okaaay. I don't know a thing about fractals, so this is going to take some research. Turns out, fractals are pretty interesting. I found this site, which is supposed to be made for kids, though it still gets pretty technical from time to time. We read about them a little, and checked out some of the cool examples they have. There is some amazing variety in what a fractal might look like on this page!

We each made a Sierpinsky Triangle, using these instructions. We found some examples of kid-made fractals. And even a cool 3-D one made by preschoolers. That one I'd like to try to make, but I don't know how exactly. I don't have any triangle blocks. Where do you even get such a thing?

We haven't played with variables, as such, so he didn't understand this video, "Fractal Fractions," but he decided that he loved it! "I didn't understand anything about it. It's just so funny! I mean, I understood it, but it's soo funny!!"

And this one has some cool circle games that I'd like to play, but I'll have to see if Hero is up to playing with me, or if his interest is starting to wane, though, once again, he really liked the video. Especially the last couple seconds.

And, finally, here are some "fractal zoom" clips.