The Egg of Columbus Puzzle
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Engage your students with this tangram-inspired Egg of Columbus Puzzle! Discover a fun and challenging way to enhance problem-solving skills in your math classroom.
For the 4th grade class my husband and I teach at church on Wednesday nights, we were tasked with coming up with an Easter craft or activity. I’m not the type to break out paint or glitter in these situations because I hate the clean-up and chaos of the entire experience.
Earlier this year, I ran across a new-to-me tangram style puzzle called the “Egg of Columbus.” I decided this would be perfect to try out with our group of 4th graders!
I used the snipping tool to grab the egg image and printed them two to a page on different colors of paper.
Next, I spent some quality time with the laminator. I figured that 4th graders might be a bit rough on these pieces. Plus, I wanted them to be able to take their puzzles home with them to keep.
MATH = LOVE RECOMMENDS…
A laminator is a MUST-HAVE for me as a math teacher! I spent my first six years as a teacher at a school with a broken laminator, so I had to find a way to laminate things myself.
I’ve had several laminators over the years. I currently use a Scotch laminator at home and a Swingline laminator at school.
I highly recommend splurging a bit on the actual laminator and buying the cheapest laminating pouches you can find!
My next step of preparation involved making a “poof book” for the students to assemble that included different challenges that they could complete with their egg pieces. The cover of the poof book included the solution to the egg puzzle.
This book is assembled from just a single sheet of letter sized paper. If you’re not sure how to fold/assemble a poof book, check out this blog post for step-by-step directions.
Our students’ first task was to cut out their Egg of Columbus pieces.
Next, we challenged them to reassemble the pieces into the egg shape. This turned out to be much harder for them than I anticipated. Numerous students made comments along the lines of “This is impossible!” I reminded them that the pieces had been in the form of an egg before they cut them out!
Next, I blew their minds with the assembly of the poof book. After assembling their book of challenges, each student picked a picture of their choosing to try and make with their pieces.
Free Download of Egg of Columbus Puzzle
Click here to Download
Egg of Columbus (PDF)
3040 downloads – 161.21 KB
Click here to Download
Egg of Columbus (Editable Publisher File ZIP)
1654 downloads – 317.27 KB
If you have access to a 3D printer, you can 3D print your puzzle pieces!
Puzzle Solutions
Puzzle solutions are available on a password-protected solution page. I do not openly post the puzzle answer keys because one of my goals as a resource creator is to craft learning experiences for students that are non-google-able. I want teachers to be able to use these puzzles in their classrooms without the solutions being found easily on the Internet.
Please email me at sarah@mathequalslove.net for the password to the answer key database featuring all of my printable puzzles and math worksheets. I frequently have students emailing me for the answer key, so please specify in your email what school you teach at and what subjects you teach. If you do not provide these details, I will not be able to send you the password.
Not a teacher? Go ahead and send me an email as well. Just let me know what you are using the puzzles for. I am continually in awe of how many people are using these puzzles with scouting groups, with senior adults battling dementia, or as fun activities in their workplace. Just give me enough details so I know you are not a student looking for answers to the puzzle that was assigned as their homework!
