Tangrams are one of the most underrated toys/math tools out there. That’s my honest opinion. As an elementary teacher, I used to pull these out during indoor recess or for a fun- but educational- reward center. Kids of all ages love these things!

Now that I’m a homeschooling preschool mama, I love to put tangrams out for my four-year-old. He likes to manipulate the shapes. I put out a morning-work type activity for him every morning and some days I change the activity during his “rest time”. Some days I do not change the activity at rest time because he enjoyed it so much during the morning. Tangrams are one activity that I will usually leave out all day because he enjoys them so much. Like most preschoolers, he loves Play-doh and coloring. Those are wonderful preschool activities to firm up the fine motor skills. Another of his favorites are the tangrams.

I love these, not just as a mom but also as an elementary teacher, because he is working those fine motor skills but more importantly he is working on math skills that will benefit him his whole life. Tangrams are an excellent tool for fine tuning visual-spatial skills. Like most puzzles, you teach your brain to problem solve and to look at things from different angles and perspectives when you try to solve a tangram puzzle.

This cheesy little book was the product of an assignment in an undergraduate math teaching prep course. We were tasked with creating a learning center to accompany a chosen math manipulative. I created this simple story about a farm where there is a different tangram puzzle on each page. It has become a favorite of my four-year-old. Puzzles like this one are a great way to introduce and guide kids in solving the puzzles while also building on their visual-spatial abilities. The outlines of each shape within the bigger picture helps kids to see that the shape pieces can be manipulated, rotated, and flipped to create a new picture.

As kids get older and/or more adept at solving the tangram puzzles, they enjoy solving puzzles that only include the outline of the larger shape. This type of puzzle really is a problem solving task. You have seven shape pieces that you have to fit together inside the outline to create the larger shape. This should be difficult at first. Sometimes kids get frustrated when things don’t come easily. One of the best things you can do for a preschooler is teach them how to work through frustration. Sit with them. Guide them through the puzzle without solving it for them. This is such an important life skill.

I tell my kids that they will need to “stretch their brain” when we get to something that is difficult. The brain is like a muscle that has to be worked. We are exercising our brains when we have to work to figure out a solution to a problem. Just like an athlete that stretches and exercises their muscles, so must we stretch and exercise our brain to continue growing. That goes for all humans, not just preschoolers and elementary age kiddos.

I highly suggest you get a set of Tangrams- even if you don’t have a preschooler in your life. I bought mine from Amazon. You can also find fun printed books to accompany them. Or, if you’re on a budget, you can find (and print if you want) tons of tangram puzzles online. Here are some links to great sites-

http://www.makinglearningfun.com/themepages/MathTangrams.htm

https://www.education.com/slideshow/tangrams/

http://onemamasdailydrama.com/printable-tangrams-challenge-cards/

Or here are some completely free online tangram puzzle games. So much fun!

http://www.abcya.com/tangrams.htm

https://www.mathplayground.com/tangrams.html

Happy brain stretching!