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Teaching shapes to kids

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Learning shapes is an important precursor skill for both math and literacy. Shapes come into play when students learn geometry, of course. But recognizing shapes is also crucial for learning numbers and letters – both of which are really just a different type of shape, if you really think about it.

In my view, teaching shapes to kids is best done through play and everyday life experiences. This can be as simple as pointing out the shape of things in the environment (e.g., “Look at that star on your shirt.” or “Do you want your sandwich cut into rectangles or triangles?”). It can also involve giving children shape sorters and shape puzzles to play with.

As parents and caregivers make shape a salient attribute of the objects in children’s environment, children will naturally begin to notice different shapes and begin to classify them. In reality, it may not be so much that we are teaching shapes to kids, but that are giving them exposure so they can learn about shapes in their own way and in their own time.

I have done a number of activities with my kids to teach them their shapes. Most of the activities I have done can be adapted to teach either basic shapes (e.g., circle, square, triangle) or more advanced shapes (e.g., ellipse, parallelogram, hexagon).

Teaching shapes to kids. This page has so many great resources for helping kids learn their shapes. I LOVE all the fun and hands-on way this mom found for teaching shapes to her kids! The salt box idea looks especially intriguing. :-) || Gift of Curiosity

Below is a list of activities for teaching shapes to kids that have been featured at Gift of Curiosity. Click an image to be taken directly to the post related to each activity.

Shapes activities for kids

  • Gifts for teaching shapes
  • 20 ideas for teaching shapes
  • 15 books about shapes
  • Magic disappearing shapes
  • Trace the shapes art and fine motor
  • Gross motor shapes game
  • Shapes in the salt box
  • Sand shapes
  • How many ways to make a shape
  • Exploring shapes with color zoo
  • 3 activities for teaching shapes
  • Teaching shapes with yarn
  • Sense of touch - identifying 3D shapes
  • Exploring 3-D shapes through play
  • Put clothes on the 3-D shapes
  • 3-D color cube puzzle
  • 3-D shapes graphing game
  • Christmas tree shapes activity
  • Making shapes on the geoboard
  • Hands-on geometric shapes
  • Why learning color and shapes is important
  • Stamping 3-D shapes
 

Shapes printables

  • Shapes practice printables
  • Making shapes with yarn
  • Wikki Stix Shape Tracing
  • How many ways to make a shape
  • Shape Sorting Worksheets
  • Making shapes on the geoboard

For more shapes activities, follow me on Pinterest!

Follow Gift of Curiosity’s board Shapes and Colors on Pinterest.

Comments

  1. PAMELA KING says

    August 22, 2019 at 12:36 pm

    Great ideas!

    Reply

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