Seven Pieces of Cleverness Ancient Chinese Puzzles By Roberta Cook

Tangrams “A tangram begins with a square, which is then cut into seven standard pieces.” “Each piece is called a tan.” In creating your picture, all seven tans must be used; they must touch, but none may overlap.

Storytelling You can use tangrams to tell a story just like the Chinese do. All you have to do is arrange the tans to show the shape of a character in the tale.

More Storytelling You can also arrange the tans to represent elements in a story; like a spinning top.

An Enchanting Tale A great story that uses tangrams is Grandfather Tang’s Story, written by Ann Tompert. Join grandfather and Little Soo as they tell the story of the fox fairies so you can practice using the “seven pieces of cleverness.”

Now you try. In the story, one of the fox fairies, Wu Ling boasts, “I can change myself into a rabbit as quick as a wink.” Can you do the same with the tans to create the rabbit?

So Many Ideas All through the story, Grandfather has the two fox fairies, and the tans changing into all sorts of animals. Can you guess what some of these are?

And the Answers Are:

And if you have two sets! You and a friend can come up with all kinds of story characters using your tans. Just like Grandfather Tang and Little Soo.

Great Sites to Visit Get more puzzle ideas at: http://www.enchantedlearning.com/crafts/chinesenewyear/tangram/ To play a tangram game go to: http://www.kidscom.com/games/tangram/game1/tangram01.html