Make your own refrigerator magnet tangrams

Telephone books are often distributed in the Spring. You may see one, with a 4-inch square magnetic advertising piece glued on the book. These often advertise lawyers, plumbers, chiropractors, credit counseling, or tree and lawn services. They know people will use their refrigerator magnets to hold coupons, tickets, and notes.

They think you get so used to seeing their name and number on your fridge, every day, that, one day you call them! A good day for them is when your toilet gets clogged, you need a chiropractor to massage away the pain, a plumber to unclog the toilet, a tree service to cut the roots away from the sewer line, and a lawyer to sue the chiropractor, plumber and tree service. You also need credit counseling to figure out how to pay the lawyer. (This is a "home run".)

I put these magnets on the fridge after transforming them into tangram toys. Here's how:

  1. Soak the 4-inch magnetic square in a dish of soapy water for a day or two.
  2. Peel or scrape the advertising and glue away from the metallized rubber.
  3. If the surface of the magnet seems discolored, paint it with a marker pen.
  4. Using a metal ruler and a pencil, mark cut lines for your tangrams.
  5. Use the metal ruler with a sharp craft knife to make your cuts.

Here's a diagram for that:

  < - - -  4 inches  - - - >
  _________________________   _
 |.                       .|  ^
 |  .                   .  |  |
 |    .               .    |  |
 |      .           .      |  2"
 |      . .       .        |  |
 |      .   .   .          |  |
 |.     .     .            |  -
 |  .   .   .   .          |  ^
 |    . | .       .        |  |
 |      .           .      |  2"
 |        .       .   .    |  |
 |          .   .       .  |  |
 |____________.___________.|  _
 <  1" >

Toss the bits on the fridge and make a picture. Some time later, you, or another, change the 7 pieces into something else.

Watch life change.

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