Copyright © University of Cambridge. All rights reserved.
'Seeing Squares for Two' printed from https://nrich.maths.org/
Show menu
Here's a game to play with an adult!
How do you play?
You'll need an adult to play with.
You'll also need a set of blank grids, or you could use the tablet-friendly Seeing Squares interactivity.
Choose a different colour for you and the adult, and take it in turns to draw a dot on the grid - the player who is drawing the blue dots will go first. The winner is the first to have four dots that can be joined by straight lines to form a square. Squares can be any size, anywhere and can be tilted.
Can you work out a strategy? Justify why you think each move is a good one.
How do you know when you've made a square?
Notes for adults
This game offers an excellent opportunity to practise visualising squares and angles on grids and also encourages children to look at strategies using systematic approaches.
Easier version: start by drawing examples of different squares on the grid, and discuss wrong or omitted solutions. Build up gradually from a 4x4 to 5x5 to 6x6 grid.
Harder version: try increasing the size of the grid.
Repeat the game, aiming to find a winning strategy, then talk together about how it was found.
There's a classroom version of this game here.
This game offers an excellent opportunity to practise visualising squares and angles on grids and also encourages children to look at strategies using systematic approaches.
Easier version: start by drawing examples of different squares on the grid, and discuss wrong or omitted solutions. Build up gradually from a 4x4 to 5x5 to 6x6 grid.
Harder version: try increasing the size of the grid.
Repeat the game, aiming to find a winning strategy, then talk together about how it was found.
There's a classroom version of this game here.