I was on a major Busy Bag kick a few years ago and made some magnetic tangrams as part of a busy bag swap. I had found magnetic felt on clearance a few years before and just bought it not knowing quite what to do with it. Once I remembered I had the magnetic felt I knew homemade magnetic tangrams were the way to go.
I first found a printable tangram pattern online and then proceeded to cut them using the pattern and my Cutterpede paper cutter. I made over 6 sets which didn’t take too long so I am confident if you are making just 1 or 2 sets you can whip them up in no time.
Just print out your pattern for your tangram pieces and print out your challenges. I recommend laminating your challenge pieces for durability. I used my Purple Cow laminator that my mom found at JoAnn’s on clearance with laminating pouches.
My nephew came over a few weeks ago and whipped through a couple tangrams while we were out in the backyard playing. He is 11 but found them fun!
You will need some tangram puzzle challenges or ideas to create. I have found a handful of very fun challenges listed below in the free tangram resource section of this post.
Free Tangram Resources:
Tangram Template– B&W
Fun Tangram Puzzle sheets from Activity Village
Jewish Symbols in Tangrams from Bible Belt Balabusta
Alphabet Tangrams from Making Learning Fun
If you are too busy to make your own tangram or would like a wooden tangram you can check out all sorts of options for tangrams on Amazon!
This post is part of a series by School Time Snippets called Math Made Fun with Everyday Manipulatives. You will want to check out all the other 29 ideas since I was the LAST one!! Be sure to hop on over and see all the simple ways you can make your own math manipulatives from everyday objects. I used affiliate links within this post.
