Fun with Tangrams - and why they matter

   Tangrams are an old Chinese puzzle game that still have interest for modern children.

  Quick story...When Kay was very young, we got a set of tangrams but she was much too little to use them. I tried them and couldn't figure them out (yes, that's right, I have no logic skills!) and I figured it would be many years before Kay might have any interest in them so we gave them away.

  Flash forward and Kay is nothing like me - she loves mazes and building and figuring things out. I thought she would love the challenge of a tangram puzzle.

  I was only half right. 

  I set everything out for her to find - the foam tangrams and the pattern cards. She started with the cards, but became easily annoyed at the abstact images and decided she would make her own. 

  Turns out, she didn't love the puzzle challenge of tangrams so much as the creativity of them! She made houses and together we made a pinwheel, which she thought to add a pencil to for the stick.

• A playful way to learn about shapes ("Hey, 2 triangles together make a square!") I was also able to introduce the parallelogram to Kay, an unfamiliar shape to her.
• Problem-solving. Figuring out which way the shapes go to fit on the pattern card takes a lot of trial and error. Those who stick with it get a great sense of pride at what they accomplished!
  
• Creativity. There's endless opportunities for creating with tangrams. Kids have great imaginations and this will challenge those imaginations!

 

 Welcome to our series about getting ready for kindergarten the fun way - through play! So far we've exploring nature with mirrors and hunting for numbers. Do you have a child starting kindergarten soon? We hope these ideas will help you help them to build the skills they'll need for school! (And have some fun in the process, of course!)