Materials: square tiles to form pentominoes, graph paper, tape, scissors, milk duds

Goal: Spatial visualization skills can be used with manipulatives when developing packaging ideas

Activity:

1. On a piece of cm graph paper to record pentominoes (5 tiles that share at least one side with one other square tile). Use the tiles to form the pentominoes and then outline or lightly shade the tiles that made the pentamino. Note: a reflection, translation or a rotation of a piece is not a new pentamino
2. Several of the pentominoes can be folded into boxes without a top. The bottom is the side opposite the open side. Find those pentominoes that make boxes and put a "B" in the bottom of the box.
3. Choose one of the pentominoes that make a box – not the "plus sign". Tear off the tabs on one end of the box of milk duds. Tape the other end in both directions, and cut your box into the shape you chose.