Activity Description: Scouts cut out tangram shapes and use them to build creative pictures.
- Fulfills Step 3 of GSUSA Brownie Art and Design badge requirements.
- Fulfills Step 4 of GSUSA Junior Art and Design badge requirements.
Info Needed: Art composition is how artists arrange the different parts of their artwork, like shapes, colors, and lines, to make it look balanced and interesting. It’s like organizing a room so everything fits together nicely and catches your eye. Art composition is about the overall design and layout.
Info Needed: Space refers to the area around, between, and within objects in a piece of art. It can be positive space (the area occupied by objects) or negative space (the empty areas around and between objects).
Items Needed:
- Tangram puzzle pieces (choose one set based on your troop’s needs):
- Tangram Printout – print, cut, and use as-is
- GSUSA Tangram – color first, then cut
- Craft supplies specific to your chosen version (scissors, crayons, glue, etc.)
Instructions (Estimated Total Time: 15–25 min):
- Prepare the Puzzle (5–7 min)
- Each scout cuts out their tangram shapes from the printout.
- (Optional) Color or decorate before cutting if using the GSUSA Tangram.
- Explore & Create with Tangrams (10–15 min)
- Use all or some of the shapes to build pictures.
- Try one or more of the following design challenges:
- Make a plant
- Make an animal
- Make a building
- Make a picture using only triangles
- How many different pictures can you build in 5 minutes?
Bonus Challenge
- Try creating a picture that shows positive and negative space. Use the shapes and the space around them creatively!
The Badge Archive 