Tangrams

I've wanted to have tangrams for the children for a while, and finally got around to making some today. I have seen suggestions to make them from paper or card, but, frankly, that wouldn't last long around here. Not only that, but they wouldn't be stiff enough to use (to my way of thinking, anyway.) So, anyway, onto the action.

The cast of characters: sticky-back foam, cardstock, ruler, fine-point pen, craft knife and cutting board. You could use plain foam, but I couldn't find any. And, of course, you wouldn't need the cardstock.

Peel off the backing for the foam, and place the cardstock on the surface. I chose blue cardstock for the red foam, and red cardstock for the blue foam. The card was a little smaller than the foam, so I just smoothed the backing back onto the foam.

Flip the foam over, and mark out the cutting lines, using a template. I used one from Enchanted Learning, a wonderful site, well worth the $US20/year subscription. If you're not a member, you could try here. While you're here, you can download some patterns.
Ok, now you have your template, use your fine-point pen and ruler to mark the foam.

And this is what happens when your first one goes perfectly, and *then* you decide to document. Try to make sure your sides are the right length and your corners are good.

And now we cut. Use the craft knife carefully to make sure if doesn't run off and join the circus, or something else a little more ... realistic ... like digging into the sides.

And we're still cutting. On the correct line, you'll note.

As I cut out pieces, you'll note the white backing paper. (Because that's *important*.)

The red set finished - for contrast, I used blue cardstock.

And the blue foam has red cardstock.

Well, now it's done. The girls have already had a go at the tangrams, though Gracey has just been playing, not using the puzzles from here. And for further information, Wikipedia is your friend ;)