"Columbus Egg" - an exciting puzzle game for children and adults

Games that make you think will always be popular, no matter how technological the age is. Puzzle develop logical thinking. And if they use visual material, it's also figurative. Games based on various shapes and sizes of geometric shapes help to develop spatial imagination. Tangram, in particular the Columbus Egg, forms such thought processes as the juxtaposition of part and the whole, the analysis of the situation and generalization.

What are the puzzles?

Any task, for which you will need to be smart, will treat puzzles. It does not require special scientific knowledge to find the answer. Here, rather, will require intuition and creativity.

There is no special classification of puzzles. However, you can divide them into groups depending on what they operate on.

1. The basis of the game is the word. The task itself, the course of its solution and the result - everything can be done only with the use of oral or written speech. This puzzle does not require the attraction of objects. Her example is a riddle or charade.
2. Task using objects. It can be composed of any things that are sure to be found in the house: matches or toothpicks, coins or buttons, cards.
3. Puzzle, pictured on paper. This includes all types of crosswords and puzzles.
4. Games with specially made objects. Popular examples: puzzles, Rubik's cube, snake, "Columbus egg".

What is a geometric puzzle?

For this game, the main figure is divided into parts. Obtained flat, regular and not very detailed. The initial figure can be practically any. In tangram, for example, this is usually a square. And from the name of the puzzle "Columbus Egg" it is clear that at the base lies an oval that resembles an egg. There are games in which the main figure is a circle or heart.

From the resulting details you need to add something else, some complicated figure. And this figure should be recognizable. Such a folding can be either arbitrary or by assignment. Drawing schemes can only contain silhouettes or depict contours of parts. It all depends on the level of the player's training.

How to make a puzzle yourself?

Like any other toy, such designers can be purchased at the store. But it will be more interesting if you make a "Columbus egg" with your own hands.

Since it is intended to reuse design details, it is desirable that the material is dense. For example, a solid cardboard or a piece of smooth plastic.

In order to simplify the process of making the game, you can take as the basis an oval, which is differentiated in the same way as the egg. But you can spend a little more time and draw an egg.

First, draw a circle in which to draw two perpendicular diameters. They will be the first lines, after which the egg will be cut later. Then at the extreme points of one of the segments, draw two circles with a radius equal to this diameter. Then you need to draw lines connecting the three points on the circle, which will give large triangles. Finish them in large circles. Draw the upper small circle and the bottom one of the same radius. The first will show the boundary of the egg, and the bottom will give three points, which will prompt where to draw small triangles.

As a result, you should get 5 pairs of figures that are formed:

• From large and small triangles;
• Large and small figures resembling triangles, but with one rounded side;
• Parts that resemble a trapezoid, one side of which is arched.

For clarity and easier understanding of how to spill the "Columbus egg", the scheme is presented below. The lines on which you need to divide the puzzle into parts are highlighted in red.

In some versions of this game, to simplify the task, small triangles inside the egg are combined into one.

Rules of the game with a puzzle

The essence of the task is to put figurines from the details of the Columbus egg constructor. It can be people, animals or birds, transport and furniture, flowers, letters and numbers.

In the game there are only two rules that can not be violated:

• The first is to use all the details;
• Second - the parts should not overlap, they should be applied to each other.

When meeting with a puzzle, you can simply review the details and think about what they look like. This will simplify the game in the "Columbus Egg". For preschoolers, this item is simply necessary. Because so it will be easier for them to understand how to make figurines. In addition, this moment contributes to the development of the imagination and the ability to analyze and break the whole into parts.

As the skills of playing with the puzzle improve, you need to move from simple to complex. First, the circuits must contain lines that show the boundaries of the parts. Then they can no longer be.

It is desirable to fold figurines on a white sheet of paper. Then they can be circled and painted with specifying details and background. This will help develop the imagination and diversify the game.

Possible puzzle schemes

As an example of a simplified version of the game, in which 9 parts, at the initial stage you can use such schemes.

For connoisseurs and lovers to break the head, pictures without auxiliary lines will do.

Nobody will remain indifferent. The whole family will be involved in the search for a solution.