Block Play into Learning

       I'm an architect's daughter, and one of the very first toys we had lying around our house were blocks. Different brands and types littered our home's floors through the years--from Lincoln Logs to Lego's to cardboard boxes. Even now I still firmly believe that giving children blocks to play and create and manipulate serves as one of the best toys. 

       The benefits of block play have been researched in depth on the great many skills they build in children. Here are five of those skills that as an educator I greatly appreciate:

1. Development of  visual discrimination, the recognition of detail in visuals--particularly with descriptive and comparative language, as a pre-reading skill
2. Development of small and gross motor skills, along with hand-eye cordination development
3. Basic mapping skills are often learned through blocks
4. Offers introductory math and science concepts to children such as problem solving via trial and error, pattern creating, categorizing and classifying, and identifying sets, size, shapes, and weight
5. Ability to visualize spatially--to mentally manipulate 2D, 3D, and 4D objects--often a skill that is stronger in boys than in girls simply due to their time spent with constructive based toys (blocks)

       Even more, I've always loved how blocks are one of the most open-ended toys. Regardless of the age and interest of the child, they can utilize blocks in countless ways. While I was planning curriculum with first graders in mind this past school year I wanted to find ways to incorporate blocks into some of our various learning activities. My favorite was when the student had to build a zoo using blocks and small plastic animals, followed by drawing their creation as a map, which you can check out here. What ways have you integrated blocks into your students and children's learning?

What are you able to build with your blocks? 

Castles and palaces, temples and docks. 

Rain may keep raining, and others go roam, 

But I can be happy and building at home.

~Block City, Robert Louis Stevenson~ 

*To learn more on the importance and history of block play check out The Yale-New Haven Teacher Institute

United States Road Sign Graphics

       Print and cut out sheets of signs for road rugs. Glue a toothpick to the back of each sign and stick the lower end into a piece of clay so that the sign can stand on it’s own. Click on each sheet to download the largest size. There are more types at Wikipedia. I've included here the most common ones together in a collection in order to make printing them simpler.

       In the United States, road signs are, for the most part, standardized by federal regulations, most notably in the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD) and its companion volume the Standard Highway Signs (SHS). There are no plans for adopting the Vienna Convention on Road Signs and Signals standards. Read more...

1rst sheet of U. S. street signs.

2nd sheet of U. S. street signs.

3rd sheet of U. S. street signs.

Working With Pattern Blocks

Above are traditional wooden versions of Pattern Blocks. There are educational, toy companies that now manufacture
Pattern Blocks in plastic. If you can not afford either of these, you may cut out your own templates from paper.

        Pattern Blocks are one of the mathematical manipulatives developed in the 1960s by an Education Development Center as part of their Elementary Science Study project. They allow children to see how shapes can be decomposed into other shapes, and introduce children to ideas of tilings.

The Pattern Blocks includes multiple copies of six shapes in the following colors:

• Equilateral triangles are green. In geometry, an equilateral triangle is a triangle in which all three sides are equal. In the familiar Euclidean geometry, equilateral triangles are also equiangular; that is, all three internal angles are also congruent to each other and are each 60°. They are regular polygons, and can therefore also be referred to as regular triangles.
• Rhombus tiles that can be matched with two of the green triangles are blue. In Euclidean geometry, a rhombus(◊) (plural rhombi or rhombuses) is a simple (non-self-intersecting) quadrilateral whose four sides all have the same length. Another name is equilateral quadrilateral, since equilateral means that all of its sides are equal in length. The rhombus is often called a diamond, after the diamonds suit in playing cards which resembles the projection of an octahedral diamond, or a lozenge, though the former sometimes refers specifically to a rhombus with a 60° angle (see Polyiamond), and the latter sometimes refers specifically to a rhombus with a 45° angle. Every rhombus is a parallelogram and a kite. A rhombus with right angles is a square.
• Trapezoid that can be matched with three of the green triangles are red. In Euclidean geometry, a convex quadrilateral with at least one pair of parallel sides is referred to as a trapezoid (/ˈtræpəzɔɪd/) in American and Canadian English but as a trapezium (/trəˈpiːziəm/) in English outside North America. The parallel sides are called the bases of the trapezoid and the other two sides are called the legs or the lateral sides (if they are not parallel; otherwise there are two pairs of bases).
• Hexagon that can be matched with six of the green triangles are yellow. In geometry, a hexagon (from Greek ἕξ hex, "six" and γωνία, gonía, "corner, angle") is a six sided polygon or 6-gon. The total of the internal angles of any hexagon is 720°
• Squares with the same side-length as the green triangle are orange. In geometry, a square is a regular quadrilateral, which means that it has four equal sides and four equal angles (90-degree angles, or (100-gradian angles or right angles). It can also be defined as a rectangle in which two adjacent sides have equal length.
• Narrow rhombus with a 30° angle and the same side-length as the green triangle are white or beige.

       My patterns come with both questions and activities so that classroom teachers or homeschooling parents may use either a lap top or a desk-top computer center for creating interactive learning experiences for students reading this blog in specific:

1. Set up a learning center using a computer, laptop or tablet with access to https://thriftyscissors.blogspot.com pages only. The content must not be transferred to an alternative web location.
2. Provide a couple of sets of Pattern Blocks for each work space and paper with writing tools as well. 
3. Pick and choose the questions or actions that you want your students to answer or manipulate according to their age/abilities.
4. To enlarge the images, simple click on the image and you will be able to see a larger version on a dark background.

       If your students can not yet read, simply have them configure the same design in front of themselves with Pattern Blocks on a table or desk. Students can do this activity by themselves or in a group at a large table. This activity helps develop Pre-Math Skills: problem solving, patterning, estimation, sense of space, representation (symbolism) and number sense.

• Back to the Crafty Math Index Page

Manipulate More Shapes Using Pattern Block Games:

• Manipulate pattern blocks in order to form larger, simple shapes. (level one) and check your answers here.
• Manipulate pattern blocks to make geometric puzzles. (level two) and check your answers here.
  

Repeat Patterns Using Pattern Blocks:

• Repeating Patterns: Set One
• Repeating Patterns: Set Two
• Repeating Patterns: Set Three
  

Try My Figurative Designs For Pattern Blocks: Plus questions and activities...

1. two kissing fish
2. flower garden
3. a super hero shield
4. a scarecrow
5. the court jester 
6. a simple Christmas tree
7. a Christmas tree with a star
8. a red bird pull toy
9. hot air balloon
10. a red stocking with a green patch
11. a Christmas wreath
12. St. Nickolas
13. baby Jesus in a manger
14. poinsettia in a planter
15. a praying angel
16. a soccer ball
17. a cluster of grapes
18. a water lily

       The photographs located here are the copyrighted property of kathy grimm. Do not upload them onto your personal blogs or webpages for this reason. Give a link to the collection only, if you are referencing the collection.
       Also, do not alter the photographs in any way. Altering photos from this web journal will get you into a heap of trouble with the law. These photos are not included here for the purpose of creating a new collection or a duplicate one on an alternative web site. Copyrighted works must be altered in such a way as to render them "unrecognizable content" in order for the material to be reproduced without censure. In other words, you must make your own unique content from the very beginning, in order to keep copyright law.
       Educators, parents, and social workers from any country may use the photographs for hard copy within the context of a classroom environment only. The photographs should never be reproduced for sale. I have not authorized any person to charge money for profits from these photographs. They are intended for children to learn from freely but not for republishing on third party websites or printing out to sell for monetary gain!
 

More Pattern Block Templates, Mats, and Designs:

• Jessica's Patterns - printable designs
• Colorful Snowflake Designs
• Playing and Learning with Pattern Blocks

Research more about the history of Pattern Blocks:

• Three Labs by Henri Picciotto
  About the Importance of Math Manipulatives 

Where to purchase Pattern Blocks:

• Amazon sells sets (250) of wooden Pattern Blocks
• Lakeshore learning sells plastic Pattern Blocks
• Melissa & Doug have a cute set of pattern blocks that come inside a wooden puzzle set

Use a Light Table to Teach About Colors and Shapes

Above is the light table in our early learning center. The table is softly lighted with special bulbs that do not harm
the children's vision. This is a lovely center idea but I think that a number of games should be developed to
compliment the device. Our students often appear disinterested in it. Sometimes teachers must become
more proactive in centers in order for small children to get the most beneficial use from educational props or aids.

      In our classroom we have a center for teaching colors and shapes that is a little unusual I think. It consists of a light table (very soft light) and a basket containing wood framed, plastic shapes. These shapes glow with luminous color when placed on the light table. Students can move the shapes around to build pictures; teachers can point to the colors and shapes to identify them verbally. I think it is fitting for a church preschool center. The shapes remind me of stained glass. Our church windows also have similar shapes and colors. Perhaps I should invent some sort of treasure hunt or find the shapes/colors game for my young students that will utilize this table more and also introduce them to seeing colors and shapes in the environment that shelters them?

More Methods To Teach About Colors and Shapes:

• Why Colors and Shapes Matter
• Teaching Colors and Shapes to Young Children Through Music
• Teaching color and shape vocabulary with games
• Learning Station Idea for Colors and Shapes
• Color Wheel for Toddlers and another aid for increased manipulative difficulty
• Teaching shapes and colors Christmas theme
• Color sorting and matching for toddlers using pom-poms
• Gumball Machine Color Matching with Craft Pom Poms
• Color Sorting and Matching Activities for Toddlers
• Tot School - Red
• toddler "busy bag" swap!
• Sorting Colors and Shapes
• Shape Monsters
• Five fun ways to teach with tape

Tangram Cats

      If more than one set of tangrams is used to make a single figure, the combinations are almost endless, but one set to each figure is the rule. Sam Lloyd, the famous puzzle man, managed to get some very fair representations of animals with them. Here are some of his ideas of what cats look like:

      Perhaps with this much of a hint, you will be able to arrange these little black forms so as to resemble a horse or a dog. To make a fox, with its sharp ears, something like a cat's should not be difficult. If you happen to get some outlines that you think are very good, Send us a link and let other youngsters have a look at them.

      Here are two more of Sam Lloyd's cats, which might be entitled "Before and after drinking:

Tangram Stencil

       One of the oldest and most fascinating puzzles comes, like so many quaint things, from the Far East where, over four thousand years ago, a learned Chinese man named, Tan, made the invention which forty centuries have been unable to improve or alter. Worthy of a civilization that invented Chess, Tan's puzzle has lived on unchanged through the ages, affording amusement and thought to men of such ability as Napoleon, who during his exile on St. Helena, used to spend hour after hour with the little black geometric figures.

        Print cut and trace around the Tangram pattern below using sharp scissors and black craft paper. Now you will be ready to assemble the Tangram figures below.

Tangrams, a recreation that appears to be at least four thousand years old, has apparently never been dormant,
 and has not been altered or "improved upon" since the original was first cut out the seven pieces shown above
 in diagram 1. If you mark the point B, midway between A. and C., on one side of a square of any size,
 and D, midway between C. and E., on an adjoining side, the direction of the cuts is too obvious to need
 further explanation.

       All these seven pieces must be fitted against each other, never overlapping, in order to make the figures of men, beasts, houses, or the like.

Where does the second man get his foot from?

The cocked hat puzzle with answer on the right.

Lady holding her skirts high puzzle and answer.

The representation of a depressed cat puzzle and it's answer.

The gentleman tired of life puzzle and it's answer.

Tan presenting a puzzle to his wife, answer just right.

Chinese tea set made from Tangrams

What Are Tangrams?

The 'Tangram Story'

      The tangram (Chinese: 七巧板; pinyin: qī qiǎo bǎn; literally "seven boards of skill") is a dissection puzzle. consistes of seven flat shapes, called tans, which are put together to form shapes. The objective of the puzzle is to form a specific shape (given only an outline or silhouette) using all seven pieces, which may not overlap. It was originally invented in China at some unknown point in history, and then carried over to Europe by trading ships in the early 19th century. It became very popular in Europe for a time then, and then again during World War I. It is one of the most popular dissection puzzles in the world.

      The tangram had already been around in China for a long time when it was first brought to America by Captain M. Donnaldson, on his ship, Trader, in 1815. When it docked in Canton, the captain was given a pair of Sang-hsia-k'o's Tangram books from 1815.They were then brought with the ship to Philadelphia, where it docked in February 1816. The first Tangram book to be published in America was based on the pair brought by Donnaldson.

      The puzzle was originally popularized by The Eighth Book Of Tan, a fictitious history of Tangram, which claimed that the game was invented 4,000 years prior by a god named Tan. The book included 700 shapes, some of which are impossible to solve.

      The puzzle eventually reached England, where it became very fashionable indeed. The craze quickly spread to other European countries. This was mostly due to a pair of British Tangram books, The Fashionable Chinese Puzzle, and the accompanying solution book, Key.Soon, tangram sets were being exported in great number from China, made of various materials, from glass, to wood, to tortoise shell.

      Many of these unusual and exquisite tangram sets made their way to Denmark. Danish interest in tangrams skyrocketed around 1818, when two books on the puzzle were published, to much enthusiasm. The first of these was Mandarinen (About the Chinese Game). This was written by a student at Copenhagen University, which was a non-fictional work about the history and popularity of tangrams. The second, Det nye chinesiske Gaadespil (The new Chinese Puzzle Game), consisted of 339 puzzles copied from The 8th Book of Tan, as well as one original.

      One contributing factor in the popularity of the game in Europe was that although the Catholic Church forbade many forms of recreation on the sabbath, they made no objection to puzzle games such as the tangram.

      Tangrams were first introduced to the German public by industrialist Friedrich Adolf Richter around 1891. The sets were made out of stone or false earthenware, and marketed under the name "The Anchor Puzzle".

      More internationally, the First World War saw a great resurgence of interest in Tangrams, on the homefront and trenches of both sides. During this time, it occasionally went under the name of "The Sphinx", an alternate title for the "Anchor Puzzle" sets.

      The number is finite, however. Fu Traing Wang and Chuan-Chin Hsiung proved in 1942 that there are only thirteen convex tangram configurations (configurations such that a line segment drawn between any two points on the configuration's edge always pass through the configuration's interior, i.e., configurations with no recesses in the outline).

 

More Tangram Resources:

• Tangram worksheets by I.D.E.A.S.
• "Tangram" by Enrique Zeleny, Wolfram Demonstrations Project
• "New Tangram paradoxes" by Gianni A. Sarcone, Archimedes Laboratory Project