Transformations being studied included translations (left, right, up, down), rotations (spinning the image about a fixed point) and reflections (mirror images). Blokus was a great way to look at reflections and rotations, the more difficult of the three transformations to grasp.
For the reflections, we first chose one piece and then placed the same piece of each of the four colours, one in each of the four corners, all being reflections of each other. We then took turns placing another piece on the board, after which the student gets to place the three like-shaped pieces of different colours in the appropriate place to match the left-right (horizontal) and up-down (vertical) reflections. Eventually we had all the pieces in place, every piece being reflected appropriately.
Our second project was to do a similar thing, but this time, our transformation was a 90 degree rotation. For this, we started at the centre of the board, again choosing one piece but this time rotating it by 90 degrees for each of its like-shaped pieces of different colours. We placed the pieces so as to create a spiral when we were done.
Challenging at times, but it definitely got easier as we progressed and got the hang of it. Good fun, good learning, picturesque result!