Tangram
Seven flat pieces and one dark shape. Drag them on, tap to turn, and fill it with no gaps.
How to play
- The dark shape is made from all seven pieces. Fill it exactly — no gaps and no overlaps.
- Drag a piece from the tray onto the shape. It clicks into place when it fits.
- Tap a piece to give it a quarter turn. Tapping the parallelogram also flips it over.
- Any arrangement that fills the shape counts, even if it differs from the dashed lines.
- Each shape filled without a hint makes the next one harder: fewer dashed lines, then only the outline, then tighter and tighter shapes. Hint places one piece for you. Five shapes make a session.
What it trains
- Picturing how shapes fit together before you move them
- Turning and flipping pieces in your head to match an outline
- Shapes that give fewer clues as the session goes on
Tangram is the old seven-piece puzzle: two large triangles, a medium one, two small ones, a square and a parallelogram. Each round shows a dark shape made from all seven, and you drag the pieces onto it, tapping a piece to turn it — the parallelogram flips over too — until the shape is filled with no gaps. Any arrangement that fills it counts. Your first game starts with the lines between pieces drawn in and a piece or two in place; after that the clues thin out fast, down to tight shapes with nothing but their outline. Stuck? A hint puts one piece where it goes. Five shapes make a session.
The science behind it
Peer-reviewed studies this exercise draws on.
- Differential effects of reasoning and speed training in children Mackey, Hill, Stone & Bunge (2011). Developmental Science, 14(3), 582–590.
- The malleability of spatial skills: A meta-analysis of training studies Uttal, Meadow, Tipton, Hand, Alden, Warren & Newcombe (2013). Psychological Bulletin, 139(2), 352–402.
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