Tangram puzzle printable
97 Free Printable Tangram Puzzles
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This school year, I’m taking two approaches to incorporating puzzles into my classroom on a regular basis. Every Monday, I put a new magnetic puzzle up on the dry erase board. For example, last week we tackled the Domino Effect Puzzle.
I also have a table that I have designated as the “Puzzle Table.” These puzzles tend to be more hands-on puzzles with lots of different challenges using the same set of hands-on pieces.
For the first month and a half of school, my students really enjoyed the SOMA Challenges I shared about this past summer.
This week, the SOMA blocks are going back in the cabinet and being traded out for TANGRAMS!
After my first year of teaching, I invested in a class set of tangrams. I love using tangrams as a growth mindset puzzle at the beginning of the year by asking students to create a square using all 7 tangrams.
With the SOMA Challenges, my students really enjoyed being able to flip through the binder of puzzles and choose a challenge to work on. I decided to give my students a binder full of tangram puzzles to work on.
I got the tangram pictures from my favorite clipart website – Clipart ETC. The website is chock-full of educational clipart that can be used by teachers 100% for FREE. My most-used section of their website is their collection of coordinate plane clipart.
They have an entire section of Tangram Puzzle Clipart that made putting together this binder super easy.
I love that there is a great variety of images. Hopefully, my students will all be able to find some tangram puzzles that capture their interest.
There are 97 different challenges which should keep my students busy for a very long while.
If you don’t want to put out all the challenges at once, you could also put one up each day/week/etc with magnets.
To save you the work of copying and pasting the tangram clipart yourself, I’ve decided to share the PDF file of free printable tangram puzzle challenges with you.
My Favorite Math Manipulatives
10-sided dice
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Printable Tangram Puzzles ⋆ Sugar, Spice and Glitter
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A fun printable tangram activity for kids, these Tangram Puzzles encourage kids to think creatively while visual-spatial skills, math skills and math vocabulary.
Tangram Puzzles for Kids
Have you heard of tangrams?
I first learned about them a few years ago and they have been a staple in our daycare’s math corner ever since!
Tangrams are two-dimensional Chinese puzzles that rely on a seven (tan) geometric shapes that are cut out of a square. These shapes can be re-arranged to form different shapes or structures, often with a suggested shadow image as a guide.
The seven shapes of a tangram are:
- 2 large right-angled triangles
- 1 medium right-angled triangle
- 2 small right-angled triangles
- 1 small square
- 1 parallelogram (sometimes called a rhombus, rhomboid or rhomb)
Benefits of Tangram Puzzles
Tangram puzzles offer many of the same benefits of building blocks. They encourage kids to stretch their understandings of visual-spatial relationships to figure out how the individual shapes can work together to form a new shape.
They start looking at the shapes as not fixed, but possible to be interacted with in a variety of angles and perspectives.
During this problem-solving process, kids can learn the names of the different geometric shapes and become more familiar with them.
These puzzles are also great for sharpening fine motor skills, which are essential for not only gripping a pencil (the beginning of writing readiness) but also everyday life skills.
Tangrams can be played with independently, but they are also great for cooperative learning. Kids can problem solve together to figure out the puzzles.
Today’s printable gives you four sets of tangrams as well as eight “suggestion” puzzles to get kids started: a butterfly and a fish, numbers four and one, a shoe and a plane, and a figure doing a handstand and running.
These different categories of puzzles lets kids see the variety of options available for their tangrams, which they can then build on to create their own puzzle possibilities.
Tip: I like to laminate our printables so we can use them multiple times. This is the laminator I use, and I just buy the super cheap packages of laminate sheets from Amazon. It costs about 13 cents a sheet to laminate which lets us get so much use out of any activity we print out.
While the edges of the laminate do prevent the shapes from fitting together perfectly, we are able to still build our shapes and we get so much use out of the puzzles. Alternatively, you can print on cardstock for somewhat sturdy tangrams (they may need to be re-printed after a few uses if the edges tear) or you can grab wooden tangram blocks. (We also own these magnetic ones which you can see in use in our Dinosaur Tangrams post.)
Materials Needed for Tangram Puzzles
- White card stock or printer paper
- Laminating paper (and laminator)
- Printable Tangrams
Download and print the activity pack on white paper or card stock. Laminate, if desired.
Also, for an added challenge, print one set of the “tangram puzzles” in just black ink. I’ll describe why below.
How to Use These Tangram Puzzles
Kids can play with their tangram shapes to create their own unique shape puzzles, but I think it’s easiest to start off with using pre-designed puzzles for them to get a sense of the possibilities and how the puzzles work.
(Again, they can work independently or with a partner.)
Using the colored puzzles, kids can replicate the image that they see and watch as their individual shapes come to live as a new shape/structure.
Using blacked-out puzzles, kids have to experiment more to figure out how to build a shape using their tangram pieces. They can then use the colored puzzles to check their work – like an answer key.
(Note: my printer was not being cooperative and printed my puzzles in gray-scale – you want just black and white to achieve the black out effect. If your printer also does this, you can go over the shape with a black marker to hide the shape breakdown.
)
Pin this Printable Tangram Puzzle Printable for Later:
Don’t forget to grab your FREE Printable Tangrams.
Check out some of our other …, Pancake Flipping Math Activity inspired by If You Give a Pig a Pancake or Domino Math for Kids (with free printable).
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90,000 print tanrams for childrenContent
- Tanrams No. 1
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- Tangram schemes for children-rooms
- print tanrams No. 2
- Tasks with fox 9000 9000 egg
- Use of the puzzle
- Which tangram to choose
- Magnetic tangram
- Wooden tangram
- Paper tangram
- Tasks for tangrams
Download and print tangram schemes in A4 format for children of schoolchildren and preschoolers. Color and black-and-white tangram and tasks for it of varying degrees of complexity for free.
Tangram is one of the most famous puzzles: 7 elements that form a square. Tangram elements can be assembled in an infinite number of combinations to create other shapes.
Tangram is a traditional Chinese puzzle made up of seven geometric shapes. These forms, also called tans, include one parallelogram, one square and five triangles (two small triangles, one medium triangle and two large triangles).
All seven pieces of tangram can be combined into one large square, rectangle or triangle. Tangram elements can be arranged in various combinations to create patterns and match patterns.
The purpose of is to put seven pieces together to make shapes. It is interesting to play with tangram for both adults and children: schoolchildren and preschoolers. nine0003
Three basic rules:
- You must use all 7 elements.
- All elements must be in contact.
- Parts cannot overlap.
Tangram is great for kids. Using geometric shapes to solve problems is a great activity for people of all ages. Print out tangram patterns for the development of both preschool and school age children.
Tangram helps at development in children:
- primary geometric skills: understanding the size, shape, position in space,
- visual-figurative and logical thinking,
- combinatorial abilities,
- attention,
- perception,
- 60005 imagination ability to follow instructions and conditions of the task.
To correctly solve the traditional tangram puzzle, please note that no pieces can overlap or go beyond. There cannot be empty spaces inside the contour either. It usually takes 9 to solve the tangram puzzle.0036 several attempts and permutations.
While tangrams are usually seen as riddles, there are many ways to play with tangrams.
One of the easiest ways is to let kids use the elements to create their own unique patterns.
Tangram can be used in logic, geometry, mathematics classes, in kindergartens and colleges.
Tangram template No. 1
You can use ready-made plastic or wooden tangram toys to work with the proposed patterns. But if we print and strengthen our sheet with tangram figures, the scale of the details in the diagram below and the size of the elements of the tangram will match.
Thus, the puzzle can be assembled directly on the sheet over the scheme. In the proposed template, the tangram figures are double-sided.
Print tangram schemes for schoolchildren
Since there are only 7 figures in the tangram, the complexity of tasks tangram for schoolchildren differs from the kid's puzzle by the presence of lines indicating which figure to place where. Below are templates for preschoolers - they are answers to tangram schemes for schoolchildren.
Tangram charts for preschoolers
All tangram charts are available for download in A4 format for personal use.
The essence of the tangram is not just in picking up the initial figure - from the resulting parts you can add a variety of silhouettes (animals, people, various objects).
Print tangram No. 2
Chanterelle tasks
Games with tangram develop the perception of form, the ability to distinguish a figure from the background, the ability to highlight the main features of an object, the eye, imagination, hand-eye coordination, thinking, visual analysis and synthesis , the ability to work according to the rules. nine0003
Print tangram Heart
This tangram is also known as Leaf.
Columbus egg
Columbus discovered not only America. According to legend, he discovered a way to put a chicken egg upright. The puzzle gets its name from the shape and glory of Columbus.
From its constituent elements, as well as from the tangram, you can get a lot of figures.
Buy tangram of this shape: option 1, option 2.
Here are the diagrams for this puzzle:
Benefits of the puzzle
There are many benefits to using tangrams for children's development. Tangrams are not only fun, but they can also develop important skills.
Spatial imagination develops as children rotate, flip and imagine how different parts will fit together.
When you try to solve the tangram puzzle, you have to think about how the shapes can be rotated and flipped so that they fit into the space without overlapping each other. nine0003
Any tangram is great for developing critical thinking skills as children need to think rationally when they combine elements to create a picture.
Such puzzles are great for differentiating tasks. Easily adjust the difficulty of each puzzle to match each child's ability level.
Tangrams can also be used to develop specific mathematical concepts related to fractions, symmetry, isometry, area, perimeter and many other related topics geometry .
An interesting lesson on fractions would begin with students using all seven figures to form a large square. The big square is a whole. Have the children figure out which beat each part of the tangram represents.
For example, the large triangle represents one quarter of the entire square. Schoolchildren love to work with tangrams, and these manipulations make them think!
Which tangram to choose
If you decide to buy ready-made tangram and not make it yourself, choose sets with included problem books and examples .
How to draw a tangram - step by step instructions
Magnetic tangram
The magnetic tangram puzzle is of course more convenient to lay out, but the figures in it, respectively, are not two-sided, this may be important for the parallelogram in the set.
Tasks created for a universal two-sided tangram may not be feasible for a magnetic one. nine0003
The magnetic tangram can be played on any metal surface.
Budget Magnetic Tangram Puzzle Game
And here is a perfectly arranged book with 4 levels of difficulty magnetic puzzle Tangram "Square". And if you are tired of the classic square puzzles, try the Leaf Tangram.
Wooden tangram
Sets with wooden tangrams are usually expensive, but high quality and beautiful, suitable for a gift. nine0003
There are also budget ones: such a game set made of wood "Tangram" is only 2 times more expensive than a magnetic one.
Wooden tangram for aliexpress is not cheaper than what is sold in the Russian Federation. There are also huge geometric wooden puzzles with 155 elements.
Paper tangram
The paper tangram is the simplest and most versatile toy. You can also make your own. Thanks to its compactness, ease of manufacture and budget, it is an ideal companion for traveling with children.
It is this tangram puzzle that we suggest you make. nine0003
Tasks for tangrams
If the tangram puzzle has firmly settled in your home, the tasks will have to be complicated, supplemented and modified.
For example, in the Tangram book. A fairy tale with tasks tells a story about a boy and a girl who need help along the storyline.
Very interesting series Entertaining geometric puzzles. You can get acquainted with such puzzles as stomachion, Pythagorean game, pentomino, hexatryon, magic square, Sphinx, Leaf, Columbus egg, Mongolian game, Chinese tangram, magic circle, Vietnamese game. A whole world of geometric shapes! nine0003
All free educational materials are systematized on the site by tags DEVELOPMENT and DOWNLOAD FOR FREE 👇👇👇
Do-it-yourself tangram (game schemes, figures)
- Category: Crafts from different materials
Tangram - an old oriental puzzle of figures obtained by cutting a square into 7 parts in a special way: 2 large triangles, one medium, 2 small triangles, a square and a parallelogram.
As a result of folding these parts with each other, flat figures are obtained, the contours of which resemble all kinds of objects, ranging from humans, animals and ending with tools and household items. These types of puzzles are often referred to as "geometric construction sets", "cardboard puzzles" or "cut puzzles". nine0003
With a tangram, a child will learn to analyze images, highlight geometric shapes in them, learn to visually break an entire object into parts, and vice versa - to compose a given model from elements, and most importantly - to think logically.
How to make a tangram
A tangram can be made from cardboard or paper by printing out a template and cutting along the lines. You can download and print the tangram square diagram by clicking on the picture and selecting "print" or "save picture as...". nine0003
Also available without template. We draw a diagonal in a square - we get 2 triangles. Cut one of them in half into 2 small triangles.
We mark the middle on each side of the second large triangle. We cut off the middle triangle and the rest of the figures at these marks. There are other options for how to draw a tangram, but when you cut it into pieces, they will be exactly the same.
A more practical and durable tangram can be cut from a hard office folder or a plastic DVD box. You can complicate your task a little by cutting out tangrams from pieces of different felt, overcasting them around the edges, or even from plywood or wood. nine0003
How to play tangram
Each piece of the game must be made up of seven parts of the tangram, and they must not overlap.
The easiest option for preschool children 4-5 years old is to assemble figures according to diagrams (answers) drawn into elements, like a mosaic. A little practice, and the child will learn to make figures according to the contour pattern and even invent their own figures according to the same principle.
Level one - download and print a colored tangram, so it will be easier to navigate the diagram.
