Tangram is a puzzle millennial of chinese origin. This game consists of 7 pieces cut from a square, which are used to assemble images and other geometric shapes.
Tangram pieces, called “tans”, are: two large triangles, a medium triangle, a small triangle, 1 square and a parallelogram, as shown below:
The objective of this game is to form images by joining the pieces, respecting the following rules:
- All 7 pieces must be used;
- Parts cannot be overlapped;
- The shapes must be continuous, that is, each "tan" must touch at least one other "tan”, even if it's just a tip.
Tangram is a simple game and at the same time very complex. With it, it is possible to form virtually infinite images and objects and it is a widely used tool for teaching mathematics.
Despite being widely used with children, Tangram is a cool game for all ages, which in addition to fun, stimulates creativity and reasoning.
Tangram History
The history of Tangram is little known, but its origin is believed to have been during the Chinese Song Dynasty, between the years 960 and 1279 AD. Ç.
There are reports that as far back as 1796 there were records of the use of the Tangram, but these records have never been found. The first book that reports the use of the game is from 1813.
There are also several legends that tell stories about its emergence. One of them attributes the origin of the game to the God Tan, who invented the 7 forms and used them to explain the story of creation.
Another legend tells that a monk gave his disciple a square of porcelain, rice paper, brush and paints so that he could record all the beauties of the world.
The disciple dropped the china and it broke into 7 pieces. When putting the pieces together, the man realized that he could form several images with the broken pieces.
It is believed that for millennia, Chinese mathematicians have manipulated jagged shapes to study geometric principles.
Forming Tangram Figures
With Tangram it is possible to assemble numerous representations of everyday images, such as animals, people and objects. Furthermore, it is possible to assemble numerous combinations of geometric shapes.
The images can be created from the player's imagination or it is possible to use ready-made images and try to reproduce them with the pieces. In these cases, only the silhouette of the image is used as a reference.
See some images that can be mounted with Tangram:
House
Horse
Cat
People dancing
Tangram Benefits
Tangram is a game that stimulates both the logical abilities and the abstract perception of the brain, see some of the benefits that this game provides:
- Development of spatial vision: to assemble the images, the player must rotate the geometric shapes and change their position, which contributes to the development of the perception of spaces;
- Learning geometric shapes: in addition to the geometric shapes of the 7 pieces, it is possible to join them in other shapes;
- Stimulus for creativity: the player can let their creativity flow and create countless images with Tangram;
- Problem solving ability: when following a reference model, the player needs to think about where each piece will be placed to form the image he wants.
See also the meaning of geometric shapes.