Why learn tangrams

Second, it builds visual-spatial skills as kids learn how to manipulate the shapes. Turning, flipping, and manipulating them in comparison with the other pieces as they build the shapes. To solve the puzzles, students need to visualize how the pieces fit together, then make the correct changes. Third, working with Tangrams is incredibly creative.

In addition, there are indications that doing tangrams helps students with achievement on math tests and provides greater understanding of mathematical concepts.

Learn more about one study here. Try out the power of Tangrams in your math learning centre or just for fun at home with our Tangram Printable. Members simply unlock the printable by putting in your email address. New members will gain access to this printable and many other educational resources, including weekly emails with the latest content. Welcome to the Family! If you just hand most children a Tangram puzzle they will likely struggle. It is better to use Tangrams as a manipulative and tool in your lesson.

Start by having students cut up the large square into the Tangram pieces. This builds fine motor skills and also has them see how the large square decomposes into the smaller pieces. For example, they "can be arranged to make animals, birds, sea creatures, people and other figures" Bohning, G.

In mathematics, it is very important that children explore with a hands-on, minds-on attack in a problem solving environment. Tangrams promote this idea through open-ended explorations. Through tangrams they are involved in manipulating and problem solving.

By using tangram shapes, children learn the relationships between shapes. Additionally, children learn that three basic shapes, the triangle, square, and parallelogram, can fit together to form many other shapes and figures. When learning a new concept, it is important to interact with multiple representations of the same idea and be able to translate from one to the other. Not only are tangrams a good way for children to explore mathematics, children actullay find them intersting and like to invent their very own designs.

This is very important bacause if the child is interested then half of the battle of reaching them is accomplished. Watching students work with Tangram pieces gives you a sense of how they approach a mathematical problem. Their thinking can be "seen," in that thinking is expressed through their positioning of the Tangram pieces, and when a class breaks up into small working groups, you are able to circulate, listen, and raise questions, all the while focusing on how individuals are thinking.

Having students describe their creations and share their strategies and thinking with the whole class gives you another opportunity for observational assessment. In addition to creating shapes, younger children can work to fit Tangram pieces into shapes on puzzle cards.

Children can gain familiarity with geometric figures while developing spatial reasoning abilities. Spatial tasks may be difficult for some children, but they will improve with experience. Here are two activities for getting to know Tangrams and to begin using them to learn and understand the math that they represent. The intermediate grades can use Tangram pieces to create squares, triangles, parallelograms, rectangles, and trapezoids.

Students can not only explore and create shapes, they can also learn about relationships among shapes. Tangrams help students at the middle grades develop spatial-visualization skills and introduce or reinforce geometric concepts such as congruence, similarity, symmetry, etc. The store will not work correctly in the case when cookies are disabled. Home Tangrams. Learning About Tangrams. Activity Curriculum Strands Topics Cover and Count In this game for two players, children fit Tangram pieces on a dotted grid in an effort to cover as many dots as possible.

Then they construct the whole. They record their results on a shape chart. Geometry Spatial visualization Comparing Classifying. Number Measurement Percents Estimation Area The More, The Better Students search for all the convex Tangram shapes that can be made with different numbers of pieces that represent the same fractional part of the seven-piece Tangram square.

All you need is your ingenuity and imagination. The only rule of the game is that you must always use all seven pieces. If you want an idea of the figures that you can create with a tangram, there are various guides and internet sites. However, the real magic begins when you start to stimulate your own imagination. With just a little ingenuity and patience, you can create animals, people, objects, letters, and more….

Tangrams are a great educational resource for the teaching of different mathematical disciplines. At the same time, this activity is great for stimulating creativity and imagination in both children and adults.

So, we can say that using tangram contributes to the development and improvement of aspects like:. For example, geometry, algebra, or the combination of the two.

By manipulating the different pieces, we can compose and decompose a number of geometrical figures.