See these resources for ideas and activities for using tangrams to introduce children to geometric shapes:
- WhizKidz “Encouraging Spatial Reasoning with Tangram Activities” discusses many activities for introducing children to tangrams, beginning with free play and working up in complexity. https://www.whizkidz.com.au/encouraging-spatial-reasoning-with-tangram-activities/
- Gerry Bohning and Jody Kosack Althouse. “Using Tangrams to Teach Geometry to Young Children.” Early Childhood Education Journal. Vol. 24, No. 4, 1997, pp. 239-242, presents a five-step teaching sequence starting with children laying tans on top of an outline and ending with creating tangrams of their own. https://scispace.com/pdf/using-tangrams-to-teach-geometry-to-young-children-5a9oaab1qx.pdf OR https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF02354839
- Hand2Mind’s “Cover and Count” is a game involving players fitting tans on a game board that cover as many dots as possible. https://www.hand2mind.com/glossary-of-hands-on-manipulatives/tangrams OR https://images.salsify.com/image/upload/s–bWhreO3O–/ehknjrb33g1tlnbpj2ne
- In Hand2Mind’s “Making a Quilt” activity, children learn to rotate and to form interesting patterns. https://www.hand2mind.com/glossary-of-hands-on-manipulatives/tangrams OR https://images.salsify.com/image/upload/s–TigS-Bs1–/dolxx9meyvhxvvruqhvv
- Deanna Rigdon, Jolyn Raleigh, and Shari Goodman suggest activities for K-2 that introduce tangrams and shapes in “Tackling Tangrams.” Teaching Children Mathematics, Vol. 6, No. 5 (January 2000), pp. 304-305. http://www.jstor.org/stable/41197425
- Middle-school students can learn about set theory by playing the “classify and capture” game that focuses on the attributes of tans, as described by Patricia S. Moyer and Johnna J. Bolyard in “Classify & Capture: Using Venn Diagrams and Tangrams to Develop Abilities in Mathematical Reasoning and Proof.” Mathematics Teaching in the Middle School, February 2003, Vol. 8, No. 6, pp. 325-330. https://www.jstor.org/stable/41181316