Playing with TANGRAM!

In the previous posts, we were talking about some manipulative materials and the construction of figures with them. Today, we are going to learn about a special material to play with geometry, which is called tangram. 

The tangram is an old Chinese game which is composed of seven coloured pieces called "Tans" which are kept making a square:

-5 triangles (two big triangles, one medium-sized and two small ones) 

-1 square 

-1 rhomboid

According to some legends, the beginning of the game comes from different pieces of furniture that people wanted to place to save space. Another legend says that a servant of a Chinese emperor was carrying an expensive and fragile ceramic mosaic while he stumbled and fell down. The result was that the mosaic was broken in pieces. The servant tried to make the mosaic again but he couldn't. However, he realised that he could make other many figures with all the pieces.

Actually, the aim of the game is the same that the servant did: to make different figures with all the pieces without overlapping them. It is a fantastic material to use with our students because it allows them to manipulate, create, discover and use new shapes and figures playing in an enjoyable environment. In this way, they will learn through entertainment. The pieces are usually made of wood, although they can be also made of almost any material: cardboard, "goma-eva", paper... It will depend on the age of the students and the use that we give to it. The following video will show you how to create your own tangram:

In this other video, from the 2:00 minute, we will learn how to make different kinds of polygons (convex and concave) with the tangram. So, this resource can be used to teach any content related to geometric figures.