Printable Tangram Number Puzzles

Have you ever used tangram puzzles in your homeschool? The tangram puzzle originated in Imperial China and has long been used as a tool to foster critical thinking and practice hands-on problem solving. In design, a tangram puzzle is pretty simple. Each one features a colorful, 7 shape pattern, which consists of 5 triangles, a square and a parallelogram. This design fits together to create a square, but the pieces of it can also be rearranged – using creative and critical thinking skills – into almost anything you can imagine! Today, we’re bringing you a printable tangram puzzle challenge that your child can use to create numbers 0-9.

This printable includes 2 full tangram designs and pages which show how to build a puzzle for each number (0-9). Since 1 tangram can be used to create numbers 0 – 9, you could even use both and have your child create numbers up to 99! There are a several ways that you can use this printable tangram number puzzle printable with different ages and levels in your homeschool. It can definitely be a fun challenge in shapes and critical thinking for learners of all levels!

A Few Ways You Might Want to Use It:

There are so many ways you can use this printable. Here are just a few ideas to get you started!

Cut out and laminate the tangram pieces and the pages with numbers 0-9. Let younger children simply explore the shapes and the numbers by recreating the design of each number using the shapes of the tangram. Talk about each shape and each number.
Challenge older children to create a design for numbers 0 -9 without looking at the printable number pages. After they build each one, take out that number page and compare the designs. Can you find more than one way to effectively create the same number (or not?) Discuss your findings!
Create larger numbers (up to 99) using both of the tangram patterns included in this printable. Perhaps even print out more of them, as this printable is downloadable. This will allow you to create numbers as large as you like, using provided templates for numbers 0-9.
Talk about the critical thinking involved in the process by asking questions like: “What if you had used ____shape, there? How would that have changed things?”
Get creative and think of other challenges that your child can build with the tangram designs!

Because it emphasizes critical thinking skills, geometry and numbers, you can really come up with a lot of ways to be creative as you enjoy this printable with a variety of ages! Click the link below to download your own printable tangram number puzzles!