Approximate cost Negligible if you use tangrams cut from worksheet. Time length of activity Approx. On overhead, model how to cover a design with tangram pieces. Have students copy designs and then create their own.
Extensions Have students try to fit tangrams together into a square.
Literature connections About 4000 years ago in China there lived a man called Tan. Tan had as his greatest possession a fine ceramic tile. One day while he was carrying it to show the Emperor, he tripped and the tile fell to the floor and smashed into seven pieces. Tan spent the rest of his life trying to put the tile back together again. Even though he was unsuccessful in putting the tile together, he did succeed in creating many different geometric shapes and pictures.