Magical Symmetry with Tangrams

I try not to use the word "magical" when describing simply logical things, and it does occur to me that "magical symmetry" is a redundant phrase, since symmetry operations always seem magical to me. Yet, here I am, in awe, once again, of what various symmetry moves create. A delightfully fine property of the tangram…

Folded Tiles, via Hedi

There's been a shortcoming in the paper tangrams that I've been presenting in this series of tangram posts. The feel of paper tiles can have an unsatisfying feel if the paper is light. Creating them from heavy paper or greeting cards can be helpful, but for more heft there is a better solution, which, no…

Tangrams: Decomposition and Diagonals

Tangram, decomposed and rearranged This is the first of the final three posts that lean on tangrams. Of these last three, this post is the least flashy, but the thoughts in it are some of the most interesting to me. If you are someone who is working with children, I especially want to reach you.…

Upcycled Tangrams

I hadn't planned on making this post. During the video in my last post I cut a square into a tangram without using a template, but that wasn't what the video was really about. My thought was that if the viewer was paying close attention, they'd figure out what I did. It's such a cool…