You have probably encountered a tangram at some point. You may even have played with one as a child. Today’s post will show you how to make a simple, inexpensive version.
If you would prefer to print a tangram rather than drawing your own square and dividing it as shown above, download and print tangrams. The pdf includes two tangrams, one in black and white (which you may colour or not) and a colourful one taken from wikiHow, with written instructions for the simplest order for cutting apart the pieces.
You can print on card stock or paper, but the blocks will be easier to manipulate if they have some depth. You can print on paper and glue your design to a sheet of thin corrugated cardboard. (I had some full-sheet printable labels, so I used one which was even easier!)
Cut out the square.
Cut the square apart according to the written instructions.
Play!
If you are looking for puzzles to try, there is an excellent resource here. Images of constructed shapes are shown first.
The solutions are shown at the bottom of the post.
If you would rather have a traditional wooden version, there are affordable beechwood ones available here.
Finally, if you think you have enough stuff taking up space in your house, there is a digital version available here.
N.B. I have noticed that the yellow parallelogram in my version (and in the online version) is the reverse of the parallelogram in the wooden version and the version used for the puzzles above. This means that you will either need to construct the puzzles in reverse or, more simply, flip the yellow piece face down and use it that way. (If you haven’t printed your tangram pdf yet, use the ‘flip image horizontal’ setting on the Layout instructions for your printer, and you won’t have this problem.)
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