Check out this shape activity that your preschooler will treasure!
Shapes are all around us!
Shapes are in our kitchen, they are in our cars, and they are on street signs. Shapes literally make up the world we live in.
Let’s get our preschoolers seeing the shapes in everyday objects with this shape activity they will play again and again!
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Shape activities must be kept hands-on.
We want children to take new information and fit it into their prior knowledge.
In this shape activity, we want our preschoolers to take multiple shapes and see how they come together to form one picture.
This hands-on learning approach helps with:
patterning
problem-solving
creative thinking
questioning
comparing
storytelling
explaining
constructing
When we set children up with intentional play prompts, it is impressive to watch learning through play unfold and the ideas they create on their terms.
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Let’s get this shape activity set up!
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To begin, I read Mouse Shapes with my boys. We read it multiple times before playing our shape activity.
This reading and rereading will build fluency and repetition.
Your child will begin to understand the storyline and engage in active listening.
Sometimes, we try to throw the entire activity at preschoolers and expect them to understand our objective. Let’s build some background knowledge first.
Here’s how to put shapes in play activities:
Tape your white paper to the tabletop.
Place your 2D shapes to the left of the paper.
For two-year-olds, begin by tracing the shapes needed for different pictures. This tracing will give them a little guidance in seeing how shapes come together to form objects.
For older children, allow them to be in charge of what they create. They may use the book, Mouse Shapes, and they may not!
This shape activity can be a balance between parent guided play and child-led decision making.
Shape activity supplies:
Why is it important for preschoolers to play with 2D shapes?
By Kindergarten, children using the Common Core will:
correctly name shapes regardless of their orientations or overall size.
model shapes in the world by building shapes from components (e.g., sticks and clay balls) and drawing shapes
Let’s expose our preschoolers to these higher standards now through play-based learning!
When playing this shape activity, keep this in mind.
The objective of this game is to manipulate shapes, not necessarily to copy the photos.
Your preschooler is the guide, and time for open-ended play is essential for learning to expand.
For my preschooler, he wanted to begin with the images in the book.
The second time we played this shape activity, the play took on ideas from his creativity.
Here are even more ways to add shapes into play:
draw shapes
paint shapes
cutting shapes from artwork
playing with blocks
locating shapes outside
recognizing how many sides and corners
Which shape activity will you try first with your preschooler?
This is such a great idea! Going to try this with my little one
I am going to bookmark this!! We are going to need this very soon, thanks for sharing!
This looks like such a great activity for my little guy!
My toddler is just learning shapes and colors. You give such clear suggestions, and the reasons it is important!
I love this! My daughter is really enjoying playing with shapes and colors right now, so she would probably love it!
Beth, I just love how you explain the WHY for everything! This is a great activity as always!!