I tried watching Vi Hart's videos with Larkin and Finn a while ago, but it was a bit too soon. (Vi Hart makes incredibly entertaining videos about math and music ideas.) Finn *really* liked the one about Pythagoras, mostly because of the beans thing, and Larkin (as usual) liked them all, but they mostly went too fast and just went over their heads.
But something recently brought one of them to mind again, and after watching it with Larkin she was HOOKED. Spent a few days watching all of them, and her favorites multiple times, and then spent the next week working on various Vi Hart inspired projects.
The hexaflexagons (you really ought to watch the first video if you've never met a hexaflexagon in person) were, as you might expect, a big hit. Many days went into folding and coloring them, trying out various sizes, learning to make double ones, etc.:
The various Möbius strip episodes were quite inspiring as well. She made many strips, and played with a variety of methods of cutting them. The "cut the edge off and get two interlinked loops" trick is now a favorite:
(note also the Borromean rings there; she really likes busting that phrase out as well.)
She delights in demonstrating Mobius tricks to people, asking them to guess what they think is going to happen while she does the cutting. We went to a Spanish conversation group at the library for the first time last week, and she brought it along to show her grandpa Don and ended up demonstrating it for the whole group, charming everyone as usual.
Finally, the candy corn Serpinski triangle halloween episode made quite an impression. She has since been working on making the largest Serpinski triangle she can manage on an ever growing taped together collection of lined notebook paper. The goal is to make one as tall as her bedroom door.
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