"Grandfather Tang" Writing Activity
Updated: Feb 3, 2021
What Is a Tangram?
A tangram is a puzzle made up of seven shapes that can be arranged to form many different designs. But they're not just any old shapes--a tangram is made up of two big triangles, one medium triangle, two small triangles, one square, and one parallelogram. With this many shapes to work with, the pieces can be assembled into an almost infinite number of different configurations. In fact, in the 1800s alone when tangrams initially became popular, people came up with more than 6,500 configurations. Today, as people work with these shapes, they continue to come up with new ways to put the pieces together.
A Brief History of the Tangram
The tangram is believed to have been invented in China thousands of years ago. But it didn't become really popular until the early 1800s, when the puzzle spread from China to England then throughout the rest of Europe and across the Atlantic to America. While original tangrams were made from glass, wood, and tortoise shell, today they're made from a variety of materials and can even be solved online.
How Do Tangrams Work?
You can spend a lot of time just playing with tangrams--assembling the pieces into fun new shapes. But when solving a tangram problem, there's a specific method. You are given the seven shapes and an outline of a picture. Then, you have to place those seven shapes inside the outline, turning and flipping the pieces to make them fit. To properly solve the puzzle, there must be no shapes that overlap each other or go outside the outline. You must also be sure there are no empty spaces inside the outline. Sometimes, you might solve the tangram problem on the first try! But usually it takes several attempts and rearrangements.
Why Do We Use Tangrams?
Tangrams are more than just puzzles used for fun and to pass the time. They're tools to make you think. When working on a tangram, you must think about how the shapes can be manipulated (turned and flipped) so that they can fit in the space given without overlapping. It helps to sharpen your spatial awareness, your understanding of how objects relate to the space they're in.
The "Grandfather Tang" Writing Activity Instructions
1. Watch the read along video below for the book "Grandfather Tang".
2. Click here to print tangram pieces. Cut tangram apart (7 pieces) and try to create each of the animals shown on the page.
3. Choose one of the animals that you made as a main character for a 3-5 paragraph story.
4. Click here to print graphic organizer for your story. Use the graphic organizer to organize your thoughts for the story. In your story, be sure to include personification (giving human qualities to non-human thing), dialogue (talking with the use of quotation marks) and story plot (problem/solution).
5. Write a rough draft (take your graphic organizer and put your story into written paragraph format).
6. Edit rough draft and write final copy. Check for punctuation, spelling, indentation, etc. (Click here to see an example story Page 1 Page 2)
7. Illustrate the story's setting/background and color/decorate your tangram animal to glue on to background. (Click here to see an example)
Optional Activity:
Click here to solve online tangram puzzles!
Comments