Beyond Dominoes: Polyominoes

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In this activity, learners add squares to paper dominoes to make polyominoes. Learners explore how many ways they can arrange squares to create trominoes (three squares), tetrominoes (four squares), and pentominoes (five squares). Learners also calculate the perimeters and areas of each polyomino as well as experiment with rotation and reflection. [Activity is publicly available through a web crawler capture on Archive.org.]

Quick Guide

Preparation Time:
5 to 10 minutes
Learning Time:
45 to 60 minutes
Estimated Materials Cost:
1 cent - $1 per student
Age Range:
Ages 11 - 14
Resource Type:
Activity
Language:
English

Materials List (per student)

Keywords

Subjects

  • Mathematics
    • Geometry
      • Plane Geometry
    • Measurement
      • Polygons
  • The Nature of Science
    • The Scientific Process
      • Conducting Investigations

Audience

To use this activity, learners need to:

  • see
  • touch

Learning styles supported:

  • Involves hands-on or lab activities

Other

Includes alignment to state and/or national standards:

This resource is part of:

Access Rights:

  • Free access

By:

Rights:

  • All rights reserved, Exploratorium, 2010

Funding Sources:

  • National Science Foundation
  • Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation