The students needed to make their own Tangram shapes for these stories or find them on the internet. We used various Tangram programs to facilitate the creations as well as tangram pieces.

The students books were paginated, illustrated and published.

Click On The Student's Name To Go To Their Story

The Bat That Made Tangram Animals

Once upon a time there was a bat who went to PEI. When he got off the boat he saw a stone on the ground and picked it up and threw it. It broke into 7 pieces. The pieces were two small triangles, one medium triangle, two large triangles, one square and one parallelogram. The bat picked up the pieces, put them into his back pack and  flew away.  Soon he came to a forest.

He saw a chipmunk and asked,

“Can I make a chipmunk tangram out of you.”

The chipmunk said, “yes.”

So the bat landed on a rock, took the 7 shapes out of his backpack and arranged them so that they looked like a chipmunk. He showed the chipmunk in the tree and the chipmunk said, “I like it.”

The bat picked up his pieces and put them back in his backpack. He continues on his trip through the forest. He came to a deer and asked him if he could make a deer tangram out of him.

The deer said, “I would like that.”

So the deer watched while the bat took out his pieces again and made a tangram of the deer. When he was finished, he showed it to the deer.

The deer said, “That’s very nice.”

The bat picked his pieces up once again and put them in his backpack. He flew out of the forest. As he was flying along he saw a dog and it’s owner on a sidewalk. He flew down and asked the dog if he could make a dog tangram out of him.

The dog said, “Sure!”

So he took out his pieces and made a tangram of a dog. When he was done, he showed it to the dog and the dog said, “Thank you.”

The bat put his pieces back in his backpack and flew on until he met a cat. He asked the cat if he could make a tangram cat.

The cat said, “That would be nice.”

So the bat made a tangram shape of the cat. When he was done, he showed it to the cat.

The cat said, “It was very fun to watch.”

  The bat wanted all the animals to come with him. The cat and dog followed him and he went into the forest to get the deer and the chipmunk. When they were all together the bat took his 7 pieces out of his bag once more and put them together as a tangram bat. He showed it to the animals. They liked it very much and they told him that they would like to have a set of tangrams too so they could make things.

So the bat showed each piece to the animals and they copied it. When they were done, they collected their pieces and put them in their backpacks. And each went off in a different direction for their own tangram adventure.

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The Tangram

There was a boy whose name was Tyler and he had a cracker. He was about to have a snack when his cracker fell to the floor and broke into 7 pieces. The pieces had shapes. Two were small triangles, two were large triangles, one was a medium triangle, one was a parallelogram, and one was a square. The way the pieces were on the floor, they were shaped as a boy. Tyler got very excited and even more excited when the boy shape sat up and said, “Hello, my name is Emmit, do you want to be friends?”

Tyler said, “Yes!”

They watched TV in Tyler’s room together and they played Nintendo and Tyler won since he played more. Then they played Monopoly and Emmit won. Tyler’s parents called him to come for a drive.

So he left Emmit in his room while he went for a drive with his parents in their new car.

When he got back, he went to his room and found that his cat had messed up his cracker pieces and Emmit was missing his arm. Tyler checked all of the pieces and found that it was the parallelogram that was missing. He wanted to find the missing piece.

He ran into his parents’ bedroom and he asked them if they could help him. He told them about Emmit but they didn’t believe him. His parents told him to solve the problem by himself.

He looked in the basement but then he went to his cat. He asked his cat,” What happened to the paralleogram?”

But the cat could not talk.

So Tyler thought to himself, if nobody could help him, I will  have to find it myself. He went back in his room. He looked under his bed. What a mess! He had to take everything out from under the bed. Then he climbed under the bed and looked around. He found the parallelogram and put it back on his tangram shape of Emmit. Emmit was so happy to have his arm back.

Tyler went to tell his parents again about Emmit but this time he took Emmit with him so they could see him. Maybe now they would believe him.

Tyler found his parents in the bedroom. “Mom, Dad, this is Emmit. He is the tangram boy I told you about." 

“Hello,” said Emmit. 

His parents screamed, “He’s alive!” His mother fainted. His father screamed again, “Tyler, take that tangram boy apart.!”

“No!,” said Tyler. “He’s my friend.”

“Please, please, don’t take me apart,” said Emmit.

His father said, “OK, OK, it’s fine.”

An hour later Tyler’s father went to see the mother. She was awake and crying.  “Please take that tangram boy apart.”

His father said, "I told Tyler he could keep him.”

"Why did you let him keep him?” asked the mother.

“Because," said his father, "he’s Tyler’s friend.”

“Ok then," said his mother, "but just make sure he doesn’t cause as much trouble as Tyler does. And make sure he doesn’t take him to school, because his teacher might faint too."

Tyler was listening around the corner. He ran to tell Emmit everything would be OK. And he and Emmit sat down to another game of Monopoly. And had many happy times together.

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Stanley And the Tangram Animals

There once was a boy named Stanley and he lived in the country. And he was flat. One day when Stanley was playing in his back yard, he noticed a broken cement block. He started to play with the shapes it had broken into, which were 2 small triangles, 2 big triangles, one medium triangle, a parallelogram, and a square. He shaped a rabbit out of the pieces, flat just like him, and the rabbit sat up and said, “Hello”.

Stanley fed the rabbit regularly. He cleaned its cage and gave it water each day and it never made another sound until one day Stanley asked the rabbit why it never made another sound. The rabbit answered, “Cause I don’t like to talk in people language.”

“You can talk in people talk?” asked Stanley

“Well of course! If I am made out of shapes, I must talk.” Answered the rabbit. “And let me warn  you. You know the trip you are going on? Well, take me with you and you will see how long it takes you to understand me.”

So Stanley set off on his trip to the farm but on his way his got lost in a corn field, and could not find his way out. Then he remembered his rabbit was with him. When he asked the rabbit what to do, the rabbit said, “Let me out of my cage and I will tell you.” So Stanley let him out and this is what happened.  He led Stanley into a haystack.

“Jumping Jehosophat! Where are we rabbit?”

“Call me Ted, Ted the Rabbit.”

“Ok, Ted, Where are we?” asked Stanley.

“We are out of the cornfield and that is all you asked me to do,” answered the rabbit, “so that’s all I did.”

“Get me out of this haystack!” shouted Stanley.

“No, you never said the magic word, and here’s a hint: it is not ‘please’.”

“OK Ted, have it your way,” said Stanley, “What about GET ME OUT OF THIS HAYSTACK NOW!"

“OK, OK! Give me 5 bucks,” said the rabbit slyly.

“Gimme, gimme never gets, don’t you know your manners yet?” said Stanley.

“Yes I do, very well. Now just give me that 5 bucks.”

“Fine! Here! Take it!” said Stanley, annoyed. “Now can you just get me out of this haystack?”

“Sure, all you had to do is ask,” laughed Ted.

“I did ask, about a million times!” answered Stanley.

“No you didn’t, that is, you didn’t ask politely.”

“Yes I did! So there!”

“No you didn’t. So there!”

“Fine! Can you just get me out of this haystack?” grumbled Stanley.

“OK, OK, this way.”

“Now, where are we?” asked Stanley

“We’re in the barn,” answered Ted.  “You never asked me to go to a specific place, so I just do what you say.”

“Ya, right. You’re real good at that.”

“I sure am.”

“Ha, ha,” laughed Stanley. “You’re not a good listener at all.”

“Yes I am.”

“No, you’re not.”

“Fine then,” said Ted “Go get lost. I am not helping you any more because you are being mean to me.”

“Oh, no, come back,” begged Stanley. “I really need you!”

“Ah ha, so I am not so dumb after all,”  said Ted.

“No, you’re not. I am very sorry I said that. Can you take me home now?" Asked Stanley.

“Well, of course. But I need a car,” answered Ted.

So Stanley got him a car and Ted drove off leaving Stanley behind.

“Why that little brat!” said Stanley. He started to walk home. He walked and he walked until he came to his house. He walked inside the house and when he closed the door the glass fell out of the door and broke. It broke into 7 familiar pieces that Stanley had seen before and the pieces seemed to be in the shape of a bird.

“Here we go again,” said Stanley as, one day, he knew it would talk.

And, it did. The bird liked to talk and it was no parrot! It was a hummingbird.

One day when Stanley and the hummingbird were out for a walk the hummingbird lead Stanley into a cave. In the cave were some dragons. These dragons were not friendly, not friendly at all, not one little bit. Stanley fought them and it was 3 days later when he beat them. Stanley was exhausted!

Behind the dragons Stanley found a golden treasure chest that took him 4 days to drag home. There was a crown in the treasure chest and Stanley wore it all the time.

Stanley and the hummingbird went to all kinds of places, like the dark forest and the spooky old graveyard and a forbidden place.

One day Stanley and his hummingbird were walking through the woods and they found the forbidden place. It was a broken down palace and children were not allowed inside. Stanley was curious about the place so he went in anyway. Inside he saw very homely furniture. It was very helpful that the bird was there because Stanley was afraid of the dark. And it was very dark in there. Stanley found a torch and found some old matches to light it. It was very hot in there and he went downstairs and found the dungeon. In the dungeon there was a bed. And sitting there on the bed was Stanley’s old rabbit, Ted himself. He was sobbing.

“Get me out of here!” cried Ted.

“Alright, Ted, if I let you out, will you follow us and come to the old graveyard?”

“I’ll do anything! Just get me out of here.”

So Stanley let him out and they went out of the forbidden place into the woods behind the palace.

They went across a river, using a bridge and through a gate into the old graveyard. Stanley and the rabbit and the hummingbird were very scared because they saw a grave with a gravestone that had a picture of a tangram rabbit. On the stone, it said:

Then they saw a clump of leaves on a rock. Under the leaves they found a gravestone of bright new marble. The hummingbird was terrified, as Stanley read what it said:

 Stanley, the rabbit and the hummingbird moved on.

They walked through the gate, turned left and walked for three hours without stopping. When they did stop, they were three streets away from Stanley’s house. They started to walk again and when they got to his house it was 1:00 am. When they tried to open the door it was locked. Stanley tried to ring the doorbell but noone came. They had to sleep outside for the night. It rained and they got really wet. When  Stanley woke up, he was inside the house. The rabbit had found an extra key under the doormat and Whitesilver, the hummingbird and the rabbit had dragged Stanley inside.

Stanley asked them if they would stay with him for the rest of his life. And they all lived happily ever after.

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The Rabbit Hops To The Boat

 One day a rabbit was out hopping around. He hopped up to a boat. He hopped into the boat. 

Someone else came into the boat. It was a kangaroo. The kangaroo was much bigger than the rabbit and when he hopped on the rabbit, he broke him into pieces. 

There were 7 pieces and the pieces all had different shapes. There were 2 large triangles, 2 small triangles, one medium triangle, a square and a parallelogram. Then the kangaroo left in a hurry.

All of a sudden a dog came by and put the rabbit back together. The rabbit said, “Thank you, I was broken by the kangaroo.”

“You’re welcome,” said the dog and he went on his way.

The rabbit thought he should leave too. So he hopped away and he came to a house. A mouse lived in the house. The rabbit went into the mouse house and ate his cheese all up. The mouse came home and said, “Who ate my cheese all up?” 

The rabbit had heard the mouse come in so he hopped out the back door and hopped away.

Then the rabbit went to a crocodile’s house. And he ate up his food too. 

But this time the crocodile was at home and he thought the rabbit would make a very good lunch. 

And he did.

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The Tangram Horse

Once upon a time, there was a person called Flat West. Her mom told her to clean her room but when she stepped by her bed she heard a crack. Carackk! She was stepping on her favorite CD case. 

It had cracked into pieces. There were 2 large triangles, 2 small triangles, a medium triangle, a parallelogram and a square. She moved the pieces around. They made the shape of a horse. She called the horse “Lucky”.

One day Lucky got lost. Flat West asked, “Where is Lucky, mom?”

“I don’t know.” Said her mom.

“She lost!” screamed Flat West.

“I will help you look,” said her mother.

So they left the house to look for Lucky. They went to the swamp to look there. They didn’t see her so they went to the farm and looked in the barn. 

There didn’t see her there, so they went to the lake and pond. They started on their way home and on the way they stopped to check the mud puddle. There she was, stuck in the middle of the mud puddle – sinking!

Flat West put a lasso around Lucky’s neck and pulled her out.

Then Lucky gave her another tangram set and said, “Make us another friend. How about a swan and we will name her Splash."

“OK, I guess,” said Flat West. And she moved the pieces around in her new tangram set and made the shape of a swan. The swan came alive quickly.

The next day. Splash was in the swamp eating plants and she got stuck in the mud and cut her foot on a piece of glass. She wiggled and squirmed until she got out. She was almost dead but she was limping and she was fine. Flat West was very worried. Flat West had to take her to the tangram vet and the vet had to keep her overnight because there was glass stuck in her foot. It was stuck all the way.

The doctor gave Splash a sleeping medicine and the next day she felt better. The glass was out of her foot and she was able to go home at 10:00 am in the morning. Because the doctor had fixed her leg up, she lived a long happy life but she left Flat West to go and find her family. But Lucky did not leave and Flat West and Lucky lived happily ever after.

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The Farmer And The Rooster

One day a farmer was working in his barn. He wanted to put a window in his barn so he could see better when he fed the animals. 

He was putting in the window but it fell on the ground. It broke into seven pieces. There were 2 big triangles, 2 little triangles, 1 medium triangle, 1 square and 1 parallelogram.

The farmer said, “Woops!”

He looked down at the window. The shapes looked like a rooster. The rooster jumped up and said, “Cock-A-Doodle-Doo!”

The farmer said “Huh?”

The farmer called his wife and the wife said, “How did you do that?”

The farmer said, “I don’t know.”

Then the kids came and they said, “What are you doing?”

The farmer and the wife said, “Just looking at a rooster.”

The boy said, “Why?”

“Because I was putting a window in and it cracked and broke into seven pieces. The seven pieces turned into a rooster," said the farmer.

“How can that be?” asked the kids.

“I don’t know,” said the farmer. “All I know is that the pieces of window turned into a rooster.”

The pig said “Oink!” He chased the rooster. The rooster jumped out of the window. Then he was gone.

But the glass was now in the window!

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The Tangram Frog

There once was a man who liked to throw a lot of rocks in the pond. One time he threw a rock into the pond. The rock hit a piece of glass and it broke into 7 pieces. 

The pieces were different shapes. There were 2 large triangles, 2 small triangles, 1 medium triangle, 1 square and 1 parallelogram. The 7 shapes went together and turned into a frog.  

The frog was green like other frogs. He had light green spots. He was bigger than other frogs. But he had a problem. His problem was he couldn’t eat bugs and his tongue was not wet. He kept on trying but he could not eat them. But his stomach kept growling. He would put the bugs on his tongue and they tasted good but he could not swallow them. He kept on trying to eat them because he was hungry. 

One day a man who was angry threw a rock in the pond. It hit the frog. Now he got angry. The frog let out his tongue and circled his tongue around the man and pulled him into the pond. The man was not happy. He got out of the pond and went home. The frog went for a long swim. 

Another frog came along. He laughed at the big frog because he was spitting out the bugs. The frog was sad because the other frogs were laughing at him. 

He said, “Please can I eat one, please can I eat one.” He stuck out his tongue caught a fly and then he swallowed it. The other frogs swam away. 

The big frog said, “WeeeeHoooooo! I ate one!” He started to eat more flies and more flies and more flies. He ate so many flies that he blew up! And went right back to the seven pieces he came from.

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The Missing Tangram Bunny

One day Stanley was playing ball. He threw the ball at the wall of his house and it hit the window. It fell into seven pieces. He used the pieces to make the shape of a bunny. He liked it so much that he said, “I am never going to take it apart.” And he taped the pieces together.

He went home and went to bed with his bunny.

The next day, when Stanley woke up, the bunny was gone. Stanley ran downstairs and told his mom that his tangram bunny was gone.

She told Stanley that she saw a tangram dog in the living room and said to go ask him. Stanley said, “Who is the tangram dog?”

He turned around and saw the dog.  It was on the living room table.

“Excuse me,” said Stanley. “Do you know where my tangram bunny is?”

The dog said, “Ask the tangram swan who lives in the lake.”

“OK,” said Stanley and off he went to find the swan who lives in the lake. 

When he got there he asked the swan and she said, “Quack, No, I did not see your tangram bunny. Go ask the mama cat and baby tangram cat. They might know.”

So Stanley went to find the cats and when he got there, he only saw the mother cat.

He said, “Where is your baby and have you seen my tangram bunny?”

She said, “No I have not seen your tangram bunny and my baby is in the field. Go and see her.”

So Stanley went off to find the baby tangram cat. When he got there the baby tangram cat was playing with her toy mouse and ball of string. “Baby tangram cat, have you seen my tangram bunny?” Stanley asked.

“Yes,” said the cat. “Go home and look under your bed.”

So Stanley went home and he looked under his bed. There it was; his tangram bunny!

The bunny said, “Tricked you! Tricked you! Ha, ha.”

Stanley said, “Huh?”

“All those tangram animals were me,” said the rabbit.

“What?” said Stanley. “How did you pass me when I was running?”

“Oh, I made myself hop as fast as I can, and I took a shortcut!” said the rabbit.

“Don’t do that again,” said Stanley.

“OK,” said the bunny.

“Come on,” said Stanley. “Let’ go play outside.”

“OK!” said the bunny.

So off they went to play outside.

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The Kangaroo And The Worker

In a town called Spry Bay a new house was being built. At the construction site one of the workers dropped a piece of wood from the top of the building. 

It broke into 7 pieces when it hit the ground. The pieces were different shapes. There were 2 large triangles, 2 small triangles, 1 medium triangle, 1 square and 1 parallelogram.  

One of the workers went to pick up the broken pieces of wood and he thought they looked like a kangaroo. The kangaroo came to life. He said, “Thank you for bringing me to life. Now you can have three wishes.”

“Oh my goodness,” said the worker. “My first wish is to finish this house.” 

The Kangaroo said, “OK, you will be granted that wish.”

The worker turned around and saw that the house was built.

“Wow! Did you do that?” said the worker.

The kangaroo said, “Yes I did!”

“Do you want to come home with me?” asked the worker.

“Yes, I would like that,” answered the kangaroo.

“I will need a place to sleep” said the kangaroo.

“You can sleep on the cot,” said the worker.

So the kangaroo and the worker went home to the worker’s house. They went to bed.

In the morning, the worker said, “Kangaroo, kangaroo, can you make my bed?”

“That will be your second wish,” said the kangaroo.

“OK,” said the worker.

He turned around and his bed was made.

They ate breakfast together. The kangaroo asked if he could have some eggs and bacon. The worker said, “Of course.”

And he made the eggs and bacon and they went outside. They walked down the street together. They went to the construction site where the worker worked.

“I quit!” the worker said to his boss.

“Fine!” said his boss.

The worker walked away and the kangaroo went with him. They walked back to the worker’s house. They went inside the house. The worker asked the kangaroo for some lemonade and the kangaroo said, “That will be your last wish.” The worker turned around and saw his lemonade. He turned to the kangaroo and the kangaroo ran out the door. He ran back to the house where he had been made. He laid on the ground. His body turned back to the seven pieces it had come from. 

The worker followed the kangaroo and saw the 7 pieces on the ground. “My kangaroo!” said the worker. He picked up the pieces and he put them in a bag and put the bag in the garbage. Then he went home.

The lesson in this story is: If you find a kangaroo that can give you three wishes, choose your wishes wisely.

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Toto The Mouse In The Hole

There was a mouse with lots of brothers and sisters. The mouse was named Toto. Toto was a good mouse. The others were not. 

When Toto was going to school, the wind was blowing like a crazy goat. But he made it in one piece. When he was at school, his fur was all puffy. Everybody was laughing at him. The person who always makes fun of him is Billy, the bully. Toto didn’t really like him. 

One day, Toto was playing outside when he found a gold lamp. He rubbed the lamp. A square shape poofed out. The square broke into seven pieces.

The square said, “ If you make me into a square from now on, you will have a good life.” 

Toto, the mouse just threw the seven pieces into the water and walked home. When he got home, he ate supper and went to bed. But little did Toto know that if he didn’t make the square he would get a bad curse on him. While he slept, he became flat like the square he had thrown in the lake. 

When he woke up, he got dresses and went to school to study. He did not know that he was flat like a pancake.

When he got to school, everybody was scared about how Toto looked, even Billy, the bully.

After school, when Toto was walking home, a mad breeze blew him into a tree. When Toto fell out of the tree, he was snapped into seven pieces. 

The pieces were a parallelogram, a square, 2 big triangles, one medium triangle and 2 little triangles. 

From now on, you should always trust a square that is in a lamp.

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  Jenny And The Bird

One day a girl named Jenny went for a walk. She was collecting flat rocks on her walk. She found seven flat rocks and they were different shapes. There were 2 big triangles, 2 little triangles, 1 medium triangle, and a square. 

She made a bird from the shapes. The bird was very friendly. She liked the bird and the bird liked her.

So Jenny decided to take the bird to Nanny’s house.

On the way to Nanny’s house, Jenny found some more flat rocks. She made a boat with the new rocks so they could go across the lake to get to Nanny’s house. So they went across the lake in the boat.

Crash! They hit a big rock in the lake.

The boat crashed into seven pieces.  Jenny and the bird landed on a piece of the boat and they drifted to the shore. On the way, a storm came and blew the bird off his raft. Jenny grabbed the bird and carried him with her. When they got to shore, they were lost.

Jenny said to the bird, “Go and see if you can find Nanny’s house.”

While the bird was gone Jenny picked up the pieces of the boat as they drifted to shore. Soon she had all seven pieces.

The bird was gone for a half an hour. When he got back, Jenny said,  “Did you find it?”

“Chirp, yes,” said the bird.

“Lead us to it, bird,” said Jenny.

The bird led them both to Nanny’s house. Jenny carried the pieces of the boat with her all the way there.

“Hello,”  said Nanny. “How was your trip?”

“Well, it was kind of good,” said Jenny. “But I sure am tired.”

Jenny dumped her boat pieces on Nanny’s table. It made the shape of a candle.

“Look,” said Nanny. “You made a candle.”

“We did?” said Jenny and the bird. “Yes, we did!”

“Do you want to sleep over?” asked Nanny.

“Yes,” they said. “That would be great.”

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