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  • Early Years Foundation Stage

Rearrange the Square

Age 5 to 7
Challenge Level Yellow star
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This practical investigation will increase children's confidence with manipulating and rotating shapes, and they may even be able to visualise how the pieces fit together before checking.

It would be good to get quite young children having a go at this investigation by providing them with a square piece of card. A pre-drawn line could be useful for some pupils, to help them on their way. The line goes from half way along one edge to half way along an adjacent edge. The triangle can then be cut off and the shape covering explored. Here is a sheet of pre-drawn squares which you may find useful.

Ideally, pupils could work in twos or threes and take turns, having a chat together so that when one solution is suggested it has to be justified to the other(s).

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Four Triangles Puzzle

Cut four triangles from a square as shown in the picture. How many different shapes can you make by fitting the four triangles back together?

Three Squares

What is the greatest number of squares you can make by overlapping three squares?

A City of Towers

In this town, houses are built with one room for each person. There are some families of seven people living in the town. In how many different ways can they build their houses?

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The NRICH Project aims to enrich the mathematical experiences of all learners. To support this aim, members of the NRICH team work in a wide range of capacities, including providing professional development for teachers wishing to embed rich mathematical tasks into everyday classroom practice.

NRICH is part of the family of activities in the Millennium Mathematics Project.

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