We’re Creating the World’s Largest Fractal Sierpinski Triangle – And We Need Your Help!

We are building a giant fractal triangle made of thousands of individual fractals triangles made by students all over the world. A few years ago, we constructed the 8th order version of this fractal, comprised of 3^8 individual triangles (6,561). And we’re still growing! Our goal now is 3^9 triangles, which is 19,683.

By doing this activity, children have fun learning about fractals, symmetry, powers of three, fractions, iteration, scaling, and the power of cooperation. See the full list of Common Core Standards in math and English Language Arts for this fractivity.

A Sierpinski Triangle can be made of three smaller copies of itself. A bigger version can be made of nine triangles. An even bigger one is made of 27 and so on, always a power of three. See the detailed description in the Fractivities section.

This is a wonderful Fractivity that anyone can participate in, and it requires only paper, markers and scissors. Teachers can teach their students to each make a small fractal triangle, and then they can build a bigger one together made of 27 triangles. Three classrooms can combine their triangles to make a bigger one. A school can combine 9 classes of triangles to make a larger triangle that fills a gym or cafeteria. Then when finished, please send your triangles to us so they can be part of the worlds largest fractal triangle. Be part of a giant international collaborative art / math project!