Product review: Tangram Animal A to Z book

I have always had a fascination with Tangrams.  The classic game of 7 shapes that are cut from a square and yet can be manipulated into hundreds of figures and shapes.  I found this book last year at a "Five Senses Education" shop in the discount bin and was hoping Mr 3 and Miss 7 would be introduced to something that I love!

This book "Tangram Animal A to Z" features a set of tangram shapes and an animal picture for each letter of the alphabet.  It begins with clear shape outlines for your child to match the 7 shapes onto the animal picture (seen here in the Alligator and Bear pictures). 

Children need to slide, turn and flip shapes to fit the picture.

It becomes more difficult with partial outlines (see Mouse picture) and then becomes even more difficult with only the outline of the animal shapes shown (see Shark picture). 

Solutions are supplied too.

The developers of the book developed this book to help children to develop thinking and reasoning skills using Tangrams; introducing children to mathematics in a fun way.  The book can also be used for colouring. 

This is a great introduction to Tangrams for children.  Mr 3 is able to match most of the first 10 shapes. Miss 7 can do most of the book independently.  We can keep coming back to the book and Tangrams.  

I have used ordinary Tangram sets with school-aged kids I see for Occupational Therapy.  Most Tangram sets come with pictures that can be built with Tangram shapes.  

Tangrams are helpful for encouraging the development of visual perceptual skills, especially 
* figure ground (the ability to see an object or form when presented in a complex background with a lot of visual information at one time),
* visual discrimination (is the foundation for where an object or shape is classified according to colour, form, pattern, size or position) and 
* position in space (relates to understanding directional language concepts, such as in/out, up/down, in front of/behind/between, left/right, when relating to objects or shapes such as letters).  

Read more about visual perceptual skills here.

Do you enjoy completing Tangrams?  Have you introduced this to your kids? Try it this week!

Get your Tangram products from the Book Depository of Fishpond today! I will receive a small commision if any purchases are made. Thanks!

Note: I have not received any renumeration for this post, however this post does include affiliate links.