Patterns and Pentominoes

There are so many solutions to the Pentominoes Puzzles.  Puzzler provides some help with solutions.

Here is an activity to try with your students!
Divide your students into teams of 2 or more.  Distribute a set of Printable Pentominoes to each group and have them work together to find a solution of fitting all the pieces together.  Teams should keep track of each step they take to get to their solution.  The team will then create written instructions to guide another team to solve the puzzle similarily.  Instructions should be as descriptive as possible using math vocabulary such as direction, colours, position, etc.  Finally teams swap instructions to solve a new puzzle.