Tangrams

A tangram is a puzzle made of seven flat pieces called tans. The pieces include triangles, a square, and a parallelogram. You arrange all seven pieces to make different shapes like animals, people, and objects.

The Seven Pieces

A tangram set has exactly seven pieces: two large triangles, one medium triangle, two small triangles, one square, and one parallelogram. Together, they form a perfect square.

The challenge is to take the pieces apart and rearrange them into a new shape. You must use all seven pieces, and they cannot overlap.

A World of Shapes

You can make hundreds of different shapes with tangram pieces. People have created cats, birds, houses, boats, and letters of the alphabet. There are books full of tangram puzzles to solve.

Tangrams help you understand geometry. You learn about triangles, squares, angles, and how shapes fit together. They also build spatial reasoning, which means thinking about how shapes move and rotate.

Fun Facts

• Tangrams may be over 1,000 years old, but they became very popular in Europe in the early 1800s.
• Napoleon Bonaparte reportedly loved playing with tangrams.
• There are 13 shapes you can make using all seven tangram pieces that are convex, meaning no part dips inward.

Did You Know?

Lewis Carroll, the author of Alice in Wonderland, owned a tangram set and loved solving tangram puzzles!