Tangrams has been one of the games at Sal’s grandfather’s house that he has been circling. It is a traditional black 7 shaped piece with a booklet of silhouettes that is challenging for any beginner.
Typically I think it’s good for a kid to play with the physical pieces – Sal started Blokus with our duo set and it gave him a good appreciation for the simple transformation of the shapes just by flipping the piece over. There’s also something to be said about engaging more sense at once – the tactile with the visual. However – for this game, I noticed Sal got a lot more mileage trying out this simple free game.
The game is broken into different levels, accommodating younger kids with fewer pieces, fewer variations, and letting them work up to the tougher challenges with the traditional 7 shapes. The manipulation is a little frustrating at times, and you are limited somewhat in the angles which loses some of the essence of the game – but overall – watching Sal stick to a problem and try lots of different ways to tackle the shapes – these quirks seemed minor.
Also – if you’ve got a younger one that enjoys the story of the 3 pigs and the big bad wolf – I’d highly recommend “Three Pigs, One Wolf, Seven Magic Shapes” – a fun little twist on the story to get your kid engaged with tangrams.
