Shape-tastic!!!

Learning to identify and categorize different shapes is an important early childhood skill, which also helps your child prepare for kindergarten geometry standards.

When discussing shapes with your child, there are no limits to what shapes to discuss. It is always good to start with the basics: square, triangle, circle, and rectangle. However, youngsters love stars, hearts, octagons, and trapezoids.  Talk about the number of sides and where your child has seen the shape before. This can be on the road, on their plate, in a book, or on the internet.

My preschoolers love shape stories. We make a scene by combining basic shapes. This simple yet exciting activity can build your child’s knowledge of shapes, ability to analyze and categorized, and create a scene by combining these skills.

For example, I want to make a house. I am going to begin with a big square. For the roof, I am going to draw a big triangle. Now, I need a door. A door is the shape of a rectangle. Oh, I need a door handle as well. My door handle can be a circle. I want two windows. I want my windows to be squares. What else can I add to my house? What shapes should I use?

My students add to the scene with creative ideas, which create whimsical scenes, as well as discuss science, health, and language. Some additional ideas to explore include the ocean, city, farm, and plate with food.

TAKE A LOOK: The Shape Song (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfRuLS-Vnjs )

This animated YouTube music video identifies basic shapes (square, circle, and triangle), as well as the number of sides they have. Additionally, the clip concludes a shape scene which combines the basic shapes in various sizes. This is an excellent example of a shape story.  What shapes can you find in the picture?

TAKE A LOOK: Purpy’s Shapes (http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/preschool/ngames/shapes.htm)

Purpy’s shape game is a free, interactive, online game which identifies different shapes and allows you and your child to identify the shape of common objects. For example, triangles can be the shape of a piece of pizza and the capital letter A. You also get to explore a picture to find different shapes hidden within the scene. The shapes identified include circle, square, triangle, oval, and rectangle. This website will require adult assistance to support learning and help with mouse control; the user is required to click to select different shapes.