Skip to Main Content
Lesson Plan Image

Tangram Tales

Math meets storytelling as students decorate and arrange sets of geometric shapes called tangrams.

Lesson Plan

Supplies Needed

Gather all the supplies needed to bring your craft ideas to life! From paints and markers to glue and scissors, our crafts section has everything to spark creativity and make every project truly special.

  • Paper
  • Ruler

Steps

  • Step 1

    The origins of tangrams date back to the third century Chinese mathematician Liu Hui, who used rearrangements of geometrical shapes to explain the Pythagorean theorem, known in China as the Gougu theorem. Have students research the tangram, which is a large square cut into five triangles, a square, and a rhomboid that can be recombined in many different ways. How did Liu Hui use them to explain the theorem? How are tangrams used in art? How are they used in games?

  • Step 2

    Have students subdivide and cut a large square of paper into the seven "tans" of a tangram: five right triangles (two large, one medium, two small), a square, and a rhomboid. They can use online images to guide them as to how to subdivide the paper. Then challenge them to rearrange the pieces to form a picture. When they are satisfied with the arrangement, have them glue the pieces in place and then decorate the image.

  • Step 3

    Have students present their tangram image and discuss the arrangement of the pieces as well as why they chose to portray the particular figure.

Standards

MATH: Create models that demonstrate math concepts and attend to precision. 

SS: Culture: Create, learn, share, and adapt to culture.

Adaptations

Have students explore the Tangram Paradox, an old Chinese puzzle that can be found online. Two figures are made with a complete set of tangrams, but one seems to have an extra piece.

Have students explore other geometric mathematical puzzles such as the "three of five" puzzle (that can be found online) where five shape images are presented and solvers decide which three will fit together to create a triangle, or the "eight sticks" puzzle, where eight strips, four of which are exactly half the length of the other four, are arranged to form three squares.