Play Africa Hands-on Maths Exhibit

Constitution Hill, Johannesburg, ZA

2018

Conceptualised by Counterspace for Play Africa, This design adapts the incredible mathematical intricacies of indigenous Ndebele art to translate spatial abstractions for children to play and interact with, as part of a greater set of immersive exhibits to form part of Play Africa’s Children’s Museum in Johannesburg. The exhibit is to provide learning experience to children around depth perception, pattern, geometric characteristics and scale – all attributes to a fundamental mathematical foundation.

Children can arrange three-dimensional geometric shapes to form groups of similar shapes, to tessellate triangles with cylinders with blocks into a compact pattern, or to build structures from the shapes themselves using pattern, symmetry, hierarchy or gravity as guides for design.