Tangram. History of origin.
This famous puzzle comes from China. According to legend, it was invented by the teachers of the emperor’s son - a mathematician, artist and philosopher. With the help of an exciting game, they taught the lazy heir calculations and combinatorial thinking. They taught us to comprehend the beauty of images and to understand the complex world through simple figures. The puzzle is a square of seven geometric shapes. By moving and arranging the figures, you can come up with more than 6 million compositions. In China it is called “chi-chao-tu”. Translated as “seven planks of skill” or “pattern of seven smart parts.” In Europe, tangrams were made from expensive wood and ivory. Many historical celebrities were fond of it, such as Napoleon Bonaparte, Thomas Hill, Lewis Carroll.
Before the advent of computers and various electronic games, tangram was popular along with chess and dominoes. Currently, tangram is more often used in children's educational institutions for the development of children.
Progress of the master class.
I. Introductory part. Slide No. 1.
Dear Colleagues! I present to your attention the master class “Using the Tangram Puzzle”
in working with preschoolers."
Slide number 2. Tangram in Chinese means “seven planks of mastery”
. This is a puzzle that consists of a square cut into 7 parts in a certain way.
From the resulting parts you can put together a wide variety of shapes (images of people, animals, household items, letters, numbers, etc.)
.
Slide number 3. The legend of the origin of the tangram.
Almost two and a half thousand years ago, the middle-aged Emperor of China gave birth to a long-awaited son and heir.
Years passed. The boy grew up healthy and smart. One thing bothered the old emperor: his son, the future ruler of a huge country, did not want to study. The boy found it more enjoyable to play with toys all day long. The emperor called to himself three wise men, one of whom was known as a mathematician, another became famous as an artist, and the third was a famous philosopher, and ordered them to come up with a game, by playing with which, his son would comprehend the principles of mathematics, learn to look at the world around him with the gaze of an artist , would become patient, like a true philosopher, and would understand that complex things are often made up of simple things. Three wise men came up with the puzzle "Shi-Chao-Tyu"
- a square cut into seven parts.
Later, the puzzle game was brought to America by Chinese sailors, from America it already came to Europe, where it received its name “Tangram”
, which translated means
“tan”
- Chinese,
“gram”
- letter.
Slide number 4. Tangram can interest not only children, but also serious adults - scientists and famous people.
• Writer and mathematician Lewis Carroll is considered a tangram enthusiast. He kept a Chinese book with 323 problems.
• Napoleon, during his exile on St. Helena, had a tangram set and a book containing problems and solutions.
Slide No. 5 Pedagogical significance of the game “Tangram”.
The game helps children develop skills
play by the rules and follow instructions, visual-figurative thinking, imagination, attention, understanding of color, size and shape, perception, combinatorial abilities.
Slide number 6. As a result of the exercises and tasks for this game, the child will learn to analyze simple images, identify geometric shapes in them, learn to visually break an entire object into parts and, conversely, compose a given model from the elements. In addition, for kids the game "Tangram"
will also become a finger trainer.
Slide number 7. When solving the puzzle, 2 conditions must be met.
• it is necessary to use all seven tangram figures;
• figures should not overlap each other.
Slide No. 8 Making a tangram.
• Prepare a square sheet of cardboard, thin plastic, foamiran, pencil, ruler and scissors.
• Divide the square into 7 parts, as shown in the figure.
• Carefully cut out each puzzle piece with scissors.
Slide number 9. Preschoolers are introduced to the tangram in several stages.
Where to begin?
The very first exercise with such a game is to create a figure from two or three elements. For example, make a square or a house from triangles. The child must navigate the puzzle: count all the triangles, compare them by size.
Slide number 10. Stage 2. Folding figures according to a contour diagram, where children put parts of the tangram directly onto the diagram.
Slide number 11. Stage 3. folding figures according to the pattern. At this stage, children visually divide the sample into parts and lay out the figure on a plane.
Slide number 12. You can come up with many games with tangram. For example, interaction games. Break into pairs, hold hands and with your free hands collect the given figures either in the air or on a plane. Pairs can be: child + child, child + parent.
Slide No. 13
Thank you for your attention!
Tangram game for preschoolers: goals and objectives
Tangram develops many abilities. One of the goals of the tangram is to teach children to independently find solutions. By putting the figures in one order or another, preschoolers try different options, choosing the optimal composition in accordance with the given rules. The magic square, like other logical tasks and puzzles, perfectly activates mental activity and develops character.
Tasks:
- To develop in children memory, attention, fine motor skills, various types of thinking (logical, spatial, imaginative, constructive), intelligence, imagination,
- To develop children's perception of color and shape,
- Teach to follow instructions and play according to given rules,
- To develop perseverance and patience as necessary qualities for the future school period,
- To instill in children responsibility and a serious attitude towards completing the assigned task.
How to do it yourself?
The “Tangram” puzzle can be found in stores, but you can easily make it yourself using thick cardboard as a basis. You can print the template below and transfer it to cardboard or draw the diagram yourself.
You can also print the tangram in color on thick printed paper or on thin paper, covering it with tape after printing - thereby making it stronger.
How to draw a tangram?
Instead of cardboard, a plastic office folder, plastic disc box, plywood or other available material is also suitable for making game elements.
It’s quite easy to create a diagram of how to draw a square drawn on cardboard so that you end up with seven elements. For example, take a square with a side of 10 cm, draw a diagonal that will divide it into two identical large triangles. Divide one of them in half with the second diagonal, as a result of which you will get the first 2 parts - large triangles.
From the second triangular half of the square we will need to make the remaining 5 figures. Start by marking the middle of each side of the square. By connecting these points you will get the middle triangle. Next, mark the middle of the diagonal and place two more points in the middle of each of the resulting segments (all these points will divide the diagonal into 4 equal segments).
By connecting the lowest of these points with the sharp end of the middle triangle, we get the first small triangle. If you draw a line from the midpoint of the diagonal to the hypotenuse of the middle triangle, you will get a small square. Now it remains to connect the highest point on the diagonal and the middle of the hypotenuse of the middle triangle. The result will be another small triangle and a parallelogram.
If you have printed several sets, it is recommended that you store each of them separately.
Schemes and templates
Separately, you need to prepare sheets with templates on which the kids will lay out geometric shapes. Depending on the age, the figure drawn on such a template can be divided by lines to tell the child the place of each individual detail. In addition, for clarity, you can print out drawings or photos of real objects whose images are to be collected, for example, a drawing of a fox, a Christmas tree or a house.
For older children, it is recommended to offer pictures in which the figure being composed is represented only by a general outline, so that the child himself can determine how to arrange the elements. If the child is already doing a good job with these options, print out sheets for practice with small-sized schematic images, looking at which he will be able to create the desired drawing from all the elements of the “Tangram”.
You can see the step-by-step process of creating a tangram in the following video.
At what age do they play tangram?
There are many opinions, successful and unsuccessful experiences of teaching geometric puzzles to children of different ages. Often, preschoolers 2.5 years old do not yet understand the rules of the game. Children 3-4 years old are quite capable of moving and folding figures, but they do not always have enough perseverance. As a rule, it ends with 2-3 compositions under the guidance of a teacher or mother, then a switch of attention and types of activities is required. But the most diligent children of 3.5 - 4 years old can already come up with images themselves or assemble them according to existing patterns. And if you interest them not just in composing figures, but in making a multi-colored tangram, and organically interweave a fairy tale, a narrative with elements of adventure and vivid images during the lesson, then preschoolers can independently come up with unexpected solutions to the puzzle.
At what age does a child start playing tangram? Each teacher or parent decides for himself. Children may master it very early, or may not show interest even in older preschool age. The child should be ready for puzzles of this kind.
The teacher should take into account that if the activity involves making a tangram with their own hands, then the children must be able to work with scissors.
What mystery lies in this game?
Origin of the game
The game was born in China more than 3000 years ago. Although the word "Tangram" was coined just over a century ago in North America, the Chinese game was known as the "seven piece board of wisdom."
According to one legend, the Great Dragon, who lived among people, entered into battle with the Thunder God. And the God of Thunder cut the sky with an ax into 7 pieces, which fell to the ground. The pieces were so black that they absorbed all the light on earth, thereby destroying the shapes of all objects. The dragon, saddened by such a tragedy, took these seven pieces and began to build various forms and creatures, starting with humans, animals and plants.
Another legend tells of a monk who instructed his disciples to travel by painting the varied beauty of the world on ceramic tiles. But one day the tile fell and broke into 7 pieces. The students tried for seven days to assemble the tiles into a square, but were unsuccessful. And then they decided: the beauty and diversity of the world can be composed of these seven parts.
What is the game?
The puzzle consists of seven geometric figures by dissecting a square:
2 large right triangles
1 medium right triangle
2 small right triangles
1 square
1 parallelogram
Each of these parts is called Tang (Chinese for "part").
These figures are used to create a variety of situations. The game has 1600 possible solutions, which include a wide variety of animals and humans, objects and geometric shapes.
As with other puzzles, tangrams can be solved alone, or you can compete with other players.
How to play Tangram?
Draw a square on cardboard and divide it into parts. It is better to use double-sided colored cardboard. If you don’t have one, take regular colored cardboard, glue it with the wrong side and cut out the shapes. This will make the details more dense. Make several of these sets in different colors.
To begin, ask your child to put these pieces back together into a square. It is better if the child completes the task without looking at the drawing of the square. But if that doesn’t work, you can use the sample.
When laying out figures, it is easier for a child to use samples with drawn components. Outline patterns are more difficult to reproduce.
On a note
A tangram can be cut from a sheet of soft magnet (magnetic tape). An excellent option would be to take sheets of different colors. Then you can assemble the tangram directly on the refrigerator.
The following rules must be observed when playing
- when composing images, all seven figures are used;
- the figures must be in the same plane, i.e. should not overlap each other or be placed on top of other parts;
- all parts must be adjacent, i.e. have a point of contact with other parts.
Real drawings of those objects, the silhouette image of which is created using a puzzle game, are very useful. In this case, it will be easier for the child to imagine the depicted object and, perhaps, create his own version. Such activities are very useful in preparing children for school.
Video taken from youtube.comUser WwwIgrovedRu
Author Seytnefesova Svetlana
Source of diagrams: walls360.com
Tangram: a fairy tale with tasks
The most interesting option for a lesson with a magic square for children would be an activity in the form of a fairy tale. You can choose any fairy tale in accordance with the age interests of preschoolers.
Take, for example, the cartoon “The Adventures of Luntik and His Friends.” All of his characters are well known to preschoolers. You can invite them to collect the image of the main character - Luntik, Baba Kapa, General Sher, Kuzya, Bee, Vupsen and Pupsen, the toad Klava and others.
As a rule, all children remember the beginning of the fairy tale: “Once upon a time, a baby was born on the Moon...”. Further, in accordance with the plot of the selected series, the heroes can meet in a flower meadow (collect a flower), play a ball (collect a ball), sit at the table and drink tea with pie (collect a table, then dishes, pie...).
In accordance with the age characteristics and interests of preschoolers, the teacher can complicate the lesson by introducing a competitive element: boys collect male characters - Luntik, Kuzya, the spider Shnyuk, and girls - female characters - Mila, Baba Kapa, butterflies, toad Klava, leech, etc. .
You can also watch one of your favorite cartoon series with the kids and together choose images of characters and objects to compose them from tangram figures.
When offering tangram tasks to children, it is important for the teacher to remind preschoolers to follow the rules of the game.
The tangram game perfectly develops intelligence, imagination, logical thinking, and teaches the basics of geometry. The tangram game is undoubtedly useful for preschoolers.
Buy on Aliexpress
Buy on Aliexpress
Buy on Aliexpress
If you found the information on the site useful, please share it on social networks:
Cutting template
For ease of use, we will take the black and white version. It is convenient to print it or draw it yourself. It is better to do this on thick paper or cardboard. Then the square must be carefully cut along the lines.
To begin, ask your child to make a square out of these pieces. It is better if the child completes the task without looking at the drawing of the square. But if it doesn’t work out, then of course you can use the sample.
A variety of silhouettes are created from tangram elements. It is easier for a child to do this using samples with drawn components. Outline patterns are more difficult to reproduce.
