Students at Work!

Here my students are at work cutting out shapes to create a tangram picture. Students cut out different shapes and then put them together on construction paper to create a new image.

Tangram Activities

Constructing your own set of Tangrams:
1. Fold a rectangular piece of paper so that a square is formed. Cut off the extra rectangular flap and discard.
2. Cut along the diagonal of the remaining square forming two large congruent triangles.
3. Take one of the large triangles and fold it in half forming two smaller congruent triangles. Cut the triangle along the fold. Label the triangles 1 and 2.
4. Take the other large triangle and crease it at the midpoint of the longest side. Fold the vertex, opposite the longest side, to the midpoint. Cut off the small triangle formed by the fold. You should have a small triangle and a trapezoid. Label the triangle 3.
5. Fold the trapezoid in half along the crease at the midpoint. Fold the vertex of one of the base angles to the midpoint. Cut along the two folds forming a right trapezoid, a small square, and a small right triangle. Label the triangle 4 and the square 5.
6. Take the trapezoid and fold the vertex opposite the largest angle forming a triangle and a parallelogram. Cut and label the triangle 6 and the parallelogram 7.
7. Congratulations, you now have your own “free” set of tangrams!

Activities:
1. Is it possible to make a square using
a. only two pieces of your set?
b. only three pieces of your set?
c. only four pieces of your set?
d. only five pieces of your set?
e. only six pieces of your set?
f. all seven pieces of your set?
2. If the area of the square formed in #1f is one square unit, find the area of all seven pieces individually.
3. Which of these figures can you make using all seven tangram pieces?
a. A trapezoid
b. A rectangle that is not a square
c. A parallelogram that is not a square
d. A triangle