Tangrams
 

Many pattern blocks use the same shapes as the pieces in tangrams -

One can buy sets of them from educational places that sell 'math manipulatives'

One place one can get them:

http://www.enasco.com/c/math/Math+Ma...ives/Tangrams/

I think it's fun to play around with the pieces.

It's even more fun to let the grand kids play with them - because they have so much more imagination than I have!

Just had another thought - these pieces are plastic about 1/8 inch thick - wonder how they would work as templates if I ever got a hankering to do things the very old fashioned way - trace around a pattern, etc.

My friend looked at a block I completed just yesterday and called it a tangram! I hadn't heard the word in a very long time and had to ask her to clarify. What a funny coincidence. :)

You might have fun at earlywomenmasters.net which has a huge collection of quilt blocks, and a section of tangram patterns. And lots of other interesting stuff.

And if you want to play more games with those shapes, you can make tessellations on this interactive website. There are three types of interactive grids, along with numerous types of grids that you can print out to work with (click 'grids' on the top menu to see them). They include the usual square, triangle and hexagon sheets, plus combinations ranging from hexagons/triangles to dodecagons/hexagons/squares, pentagons, and waffles. It's all great fun!

This is the Escher-style interactive page.
http://gwydir.demon.co.uk/jo/tess/sqtile.htm

Thank you for the site - ANOTHER place to play! :eek: :o :shock:

Oh my, I cannot even pronounce these names!!! (TeeHeeHEE).

What fun sites!

Me neither! And the thought of math just made me shiver... in this heat even... LOL!

What an incredibly cool site! Now if I can just figure out how to turn those designs into quilts...