Discovery Play with Littles
3:18 pm ·
26 Simple and Fun Shape Activities for Toddlers and Preschoolers
“I found it!” Jacob half-screamed as he beamed and brought me the square. We’ve been working on our basic shapes for the past couple of weeks and he was doing really well.
He loved all of our simple activities, but the shape scavenger hunt was his favorite.
What age should a child know shapes?
Begin teaching shapes to your toddler around 2, and by 3 they should know the basic 2D shapes: square, rectangle, circle, and triangle.
Sitting your toddler down and trying to get them to focus on flashcards and worksheets will not only end up in frustration for him but for you too! Young kids learn best through hands-on activities, they are more interested and engaged when they can explore shapes for themselves.
Why Teaching Shapes is Important
Recognizing shapes is a foundational skill toddlers need to learn, and lends itself to developing other skills. Shape identification is the first step to developing other academic skills such as pre-reading skills, pre-writing skills, sorting, comparing, and it also introduces them to more descriptive vocabulary.
How Do I Start Teaching my Toddler Shapes?
Little learners learn best with hands-on activities. Skip the worksheets and flashcards, but using different sizes of real objects that you already have at home is a great way to start introducing your child to shapes.
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>Teach them to recognize the warning signs of giving up , and how to turn it around by taking control of their choices.
Grab your powerful FREE video lesson to teach your kiddo one of the most powerful keys to perseverance.
How Do You Make Learning Shapes Activities Simple and Fun for Toddlers?
Make learning shapes part of your everyday life.
- We started with a triangle, so I made his pancake in the shape of a triangle. We talked about the shape I was making, and then I cut it up in little triangles before he would eat so he saw triangles the whole time he was eating.
- Once he learned several shapes, I surprised him with what shape I was making. After he got to know shapes really well, I let him pick what shape he wanted that day.
- This was a quick, fun game that was scattered throughout our day. Whenever we would go into his room, he would identify the shape on his door. Every time he wanted a drink, he would identify a shape. When we would brush teeth or wash hands, there was a shape.
- Remember to rotate the shapes at least once a week or toddlers will quickly learn that the fridge is “circle.”
- Have your child color and decorate the shape posters included in the Free Little Learners Activity Pack below.
- Bathtime – Bathtime is a great time to teach new concepts because you have the advantage of having a captive audience. Use bath crayons to draw shapes on the bath, and have your toddler point to the shape when you call out the name. It’s even more fun if you have an eyedropper they can use to squirt water on the shape.
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- Road signs – As you drive down the road have your child look for shapes. Road signs are a perfect example, but they may even be able to spot different shapes on buildings. They might see a clock that is a circle, a house that has a square on it, or a bale of hay that is a rectangle.
- Signs at restaurants – When we were first learning shapes we went to Jimmy Johns. Their walls are plastered with funny signs. Jacob’s mind was blown. He first spotted a circle, and as the list of shapes he recognized grew, his excitement grew along with it. It was so fun to see him applying in real life what we were learning at home. He was ecstatic.
- Shape hunt around the neighborhood – Go on a walk around the neighborhood. Have your child be on the lookout for shapes, you will be surprised how many you find. A circle in a trampoline, a square on a house, a diamond for a birdhouse. Keep track of how many you find and on your next walk, try to get more!
- I spy – I spy is a game we typically use colors for, but this time use shapes. “I spy a rectangle.” This gets your child looking around your room, searching for different shapes.
- Read shape books – My toddler learned the star shape because it was in one of his favorite books. He analyzed the pictures every time, and once I gave him the vocabulary (“star”) for what he was seeing, he loved to pick it out every time. Reading is important, and when you read about what you are learning about it makes learning more meaningful.
Check out our favorite Shape Books .
Fun Shape Activities for Toddlers
These shape activities are a great way to make learning simple and fun.
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- Driveway shapes – Draw shapes on your driveway with sidewalk chalk. Call out a shape, and a way to travel. Your child can run, hop, frog jump, gallop, skip, walk backward, etc. to the shape that you call out. In the winter, you can make shapes on your floor with blue painter’s tape or make shapes out of paper to lay on the floor to make it reusable. This is a great activity to get some energy out.
- Dot the shapes – In the Free Little Learners Activity Pack below, have your child trace or use bingo dotters along the edge of the shapes.
- Shape sorting – Sort shape buttons or pattern blocks according to shape, color, or let your child pick how to sort. They may come up with something you haven’t thought of.
- Shape search – Print the shape search shapes in the free Little Learners Activity Pack on cardstock and cut them out. Hide them in a bin filled with rice, salt, cornmeal, beans, etc., and have your child sift through the bin to find the shapes. You could also use shape buttons, or any shapes you have around the house for this.
- Playdough Mats – In the free Little Learners Activity Pack, print the play-doh mats and put them in a page protector or laminate them. Have your child fill the shapes with play-doh, outline the shapes, or just decorate them.
- Shape pictures – Using shape buttons, shapes you’ve cut out from the packet, or any shapes you have around the house, have your child put different shapes together to make a picture. How many unique pictures can you make? For example, for a house, you could use squares, triangles, and rectangles.
Games That Teach Shapes for Toddlers
Playing games is great for kids. Games teach process, imagination, exploration, and problem-solving. Not to mention the social skills of working together, turn-taking, and being kind.
Below are some different shape puzzles that will help your child learn not only their shapes but the different characteristics of shapes.
While playing with these, you can begin to teach them how to compare, the number of sides, number of corners, colors, and more/less (sides, corners). You can also use the shapes in these puzzles for many of the activities above.
This shape sorter builds early shape and color recognition skills.
This shape sorting cube encourages the development of problem-solving, color and shape recognition.
Melissa and Doug Pattern Blocks help kids to recognize shapes and also develop spatial awareness, problem-solving, color recognition, and hand/eye coordination.
Snug as a Bug in a Rug is a fan favorite of preschoolers. In this game, you have to rescue all of the bugs before the stinkbugs make it on the rug. During your rescue, you will practice counting, colors, and shapes.
Fun Preschool Shape Activities
Preschoolers love shape activities, even if they’ve already mastered their shapes. A strong foundation of shape recognition will benefit your child as they grow and begin to learn letters and write. These activities are also simple ways to develop imagination, problem solving, creativity, and fine motor skills!
- Geoboards : Geoboards are so much fun for little learners! They love making various shapes with rubber bands. Can they make a specific shape you name? Can they make a picture of several shapes and identify the shapes after they are done?
- Shape Monster : Using paper plates, cut out each shape. Using construction paper, pipe cleaners, googly eyes, scrapbook paper, watercolors, etc., decorate it to turn the shape into your monster. Maybe your shape monster has four arms or three eyes. Maybe his mouth is on the side of his head and his eyes are on the bottom. This is a fun way to use creativity, problem-solving, and fine motor skills all while learning shapes. There are also shape monster templates included in our Shape of the Week Curriculum below.
- Shape Scavenger Hunt : This is an easy way to learn shapes. Ask your child to find a shape around your house. How many squares can they find? Rectangles? They will love the variety of shapes they find in their own space, and kids feel proud when they can learn to identify shapes correctly.
- Cut Shapes : Draw shapes of different sizes on a piece of paper. Have your child practice cutting them out. This is a great way to work on scissor skills and strengthen fingers in little hands while learning the names of shapes. Templates are also included in our Shape of the Week Curriculum.
- Shape Monster Sensory Bin : Toddlers and preschoolers love sensory bins . Your little learners will love playing with the water beads, pattern blocks, pipe cleaners, and googly eyes that make up this fun shape monster sensory bin.
- Shape Pictures : Cut different sizes of every shape. What pictures can you make with the shapes? Have popsicle sticks, googly eyes, pipe cleaners, and pom-poms available to your child to add to their picture as well.
- Kinetic Sand is a great sensory play activity for little hands. Can they use a sand mold to make the different shapes? Can they draw the shapes with their finger or a popsicle stick?
Shape of the Week Curriculum
Our favorite shape activities are included in our Shape of the Week Curriculum . This curriculum has 7 activities for each shape: Squares, Triangles, Rectangles, Circles, Ovals, Pentagons, Hearts, Stars, and Hexagons. This print-and-go style curriculum will have your little learner begging to do more activities. They will love using their creativity to master their shapes, while you can feel confident because the activities are ready to go, and you know they are not only learning their shapes, but also strengthening their fine motor skills, using creativity, and loving every minute!
Have fun with shapes!
Learning shapes is simple and fun, especially because it is so easy to integrate into your daily routine. Grab our Shape of the Week Curriculum for more fun with shapes!
You Might Also Enjoy:
Tracing Shapes | Why It’s Important and How to Practice
The Best Shapes Books for Preschoolers
Activities for Teaching Your Toddler Colors
Your Turn
What are your favorite shape activities?
About Elizabeth
Elizabeth is a mama of two boys, a former teacher, and the founder of Discovery Play with Littles. Her mission is to make raising kids with character simple and fun. Join us for our best learning through play ideas, character growth activities, and family connection ideas so you can watch your child thrive.
Perseverance is the biggest predictor of success, even more than raw talent or aptitude.
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PLAY is often talked about as if it were a relief from serious learning. But for children play is serious learning. Play is really the work of childhood. -Mr. Rogers
Have you ever looked around you and realized that shapes are one of the most noticeable attributes of the world around us? Teaching shapes to toddlers gives them a way to recognize and understand the world around them.
Learning shapes has several benefits for toddlers.
1. Same or Different
Are triangles and circles the same? Are these squares the same or different?
Discriminating same vs different is a big deal for toddlers, and it helps them start to visually discriminate and learn the world around them. Kids start learning how to scan their environment and notice important differences. It also helps your children follow directions better.
For example, you might tell your toddler to grab the blue circle on the floor. That’s much easier for them to understand than just saying get the toy on the floor.
2. Teaches Categorization
Looking and learning about shapes teaches your children about the attributes off objects. Children learn how to make observations about similarities and differences.
For example, toddlers might compare two different squares. He will notice they’re the same shape, but they might be smaller or different colors.
3. Works on Problem Solving
Playing with a shape sorter helps your child determine where the blocks fit. This is an early example of problem-solving for toddlers.
Learning and discriminating shapes also works with spatial relation skills. Does the block fit into the same well? How do objects fit together? These are future math and science skills!
4. Early Math Skills
Shapes is a big part of early math skills. Building with blocks and working on shape puzzles are early geometry lessons. Your toddler learns geometric concepts like shapes, sizes, space, and position.
5. Early Letter Recognition
Shapes are also part of early letter recognition. Have you ever noticed the triangles made up A, V, and W? A circle is an O.
Learning about basic shapes helps your children learn about letter recognition and numbers, and it also helps them to draw shape, a precursor to writing.
6. Use Descriptive Vocabulary
Learning shapes helps to build your toddler’s descriptive vocabulary, encouraging your child to describe and express what they see.
She might notice the square cookie (hey, it happens!), red flowers, or the triangle-shaped toy. This is a gradual step, but it’s an important benefit of learning shapes.
13 Tips for Teaching Shapes to Toddlers
1. play with shape puzzles.
One of my favorite ways to teach shapes to toddlers is to play with shape puzzles. While it’s good for your child to play with puzzles alone, make sure you take the time to play with them and give them the names of the shapes regularly.
There are all kinds of awesome shape puzzles that your toddler will love. If you have a toddler who is around one-year-old and you want to introduce shapes, the Melissa & Doug First Shapes Jumbo Knot Puzzle is perfect. It has easy-to-grasp knobs and an understandable picture for toddlers.
If you have a toddler who is a bit older, the Melissa & Doug Shapes Wooden Chunky Puzzle is perfect. The puzzle has eight shapes total and large, chunky shapes that is easy for toddlers to grasp.
2. Be Repetitive
Repetition is a big deal. When your toddler is learning anything, you have to repeat the information several times.
Think about how many times you need to repeat directions, even for older kids!
Repeating the information for your toddlers is crucial, so when they hand you a puzzle shape, make sure you say the shape name. If you see a shape around the house – like the dining room table is a rectangle – make sure to tell your toddler!
3. Tracing and Coloring
One of the easiest tricks for teaching shapes to toddlers is tracing and coloring. Grab some crayons and let your child color some shapes.
If you can’t find coloring books that have shapes, there are plenty of shape printables or make your own. Toddlers aren’t picky at all!
4. Use Shape Sorters
I used to assume that shape sorters were an outdated toy that kid don’t need anymore – WRONG. Shape sorters give your child an opportunity to hold and learn the shapes, but it also works on problem solving skills.
At first, take away a few of the shapes to reduce the overwhelm your toddler might feel as they learn the shape sorter.
If you don’t have a shape sorter at home, I love the Melissa & Doug Shape Sorting Cube . It’s a classic sorting cube with 12 different shapes, ideal for kids two to four years old.
5. Cut Shapes with Play Doh
What kids don’t love Play-Doh? My kids are totally obsessed, and it’s an easy way to keep them occupied and engaged in learning. We have several Play-Doh sets and accessories around our house; mama needs a break sometimes!
I found a large set of play dough accessories , and several of the cutters are shapes. Give your kids some tubs of Play-Doh and these shape cutters. Show them a shape and tell them to cut out a square or triangle.
Trust me; your toddlers will love this!
6. Find Shapes Around You
Shapes are everywhere, but it’s easy to adults to forget that. Toddlers need to understand that shapes are part of their world, so look for shapes around you.
The table is a rectangle, a tall cup is a cylinder, the plate is a circle, and a cellphone is rectangle.
Shapes are everywhere, and parents need to point them out regularly. It helps your child know that learning shapes is a big deal!
7. Use Q-Tips to Build Shapes
One of the easiest ways to teach shapes is to build them with q-tips, something most people have and is super cheap.
Some shapes cannot be made with q-tips, like circles, but most can be made with them.
8. Draw Shapes with Sidewalk Chalk
We always have a bucket of sidewalk chalk sitting around, and it’s a great way to teach your toddler shapes. Draw the shapes with the chalk and tell your child the name of each shape. You can even call out shapes and have your child jump from shape to shape.
9. Don’t Learn Too Many at Once
Make sure you don’t introduce too many shapes at one time. That leads to overwhelm, and your goal is mastery. It’s impossible to master skills when the focus is spread out too thinly.
10. Draw Shapes in Shaving Cream
If you’re worried that your toddler will eat the shaving cream, whipped cream or peanut butter are edible substitutions that work as well.
Spread the shaving cream over the table and have your child draw the shapes in the cream. You’ll need to show them the shapes first and how to draw them.
11. Use Geoboards
Geoboards are a fun little tool that I have for my toddlers. All you need is the geo board and some rubber bands. Then, they “build” the shapes on the boards.
It keeps them entertained for quite awhile, and it’s even fun for you to enjoy.
12. Paint the Shapes
Here’s an easy and fun idea for toddlers.
Cut out shapes from a kitchen sponge, dip them into washable paint, and stamp paper with the shapes. You can start off with one or two shapes and gradually build up to more sponge stampers.
13. Shape Hunt
Try hiding shapes around a room for your toddler to find, or bury shapes in a box of rice or beans for your child to discover. Making a sensory bin with shapes is a great way to teach your toddler shapes while also engaging their other needs.
When Should Toddlers Learn Shapes?
Naming shapes takes longer to develop then learning colors. Children typically reach the stage when they can grasp the concept of shapes around two years old, but that doesn’t mean they’ll fully grasp shapes at that stage.
By the time your child is three to four years old, your child should be able to identify most of the basic shapes. Advanced shapes, like octagons, will be learned much later.
What Shapes Should a 2 Year Old Know?
An average two-year-old is just starting to learn shapes, so your child might not know any shapes yet. At this age, toddlers are starting to learn the basic shapes like circle, square, triangle, and rectangle.
What Shapes Should I Teach First?
Start by teaching your child the most common shapes: squares, circles, and triangles. After your child understands these three shapes, move to rectangles, stars, diamonds, and ovals.
Teaching shapes to toddlers should be fun and engaging; this shouldn’t be sit-down lessons that bore your child. Focus on making learning shapes as fun as possible and remember that repetition is necessary to help your toddler learn the names of the shapes.
Related posts:
30 Fun Shape Activities For Kids to Learn Shapes
We compiled this list of engaging shape activities for kids to save you time and make learning shapes fun! From low-prep printables to play-based learning, you will find a variety of shape activities that will excite kids in preschool and kindergarten.
30 Fun Shape Activities for Preschool and Kindergarten
Learning shapes is an important math skill in preschool and kindergarten . Students will learn to name shapes, identify shapes as 2D and 3D, model shapes in the world, compose shapes and more. This list of shape activities is full of fun, engaging ways to teach these skills.
From shape hunts to art projects to puzzles, crafts, nature explorations and more, these activities are sure to add lots of fun and learning to your plans.
Find activities and ideas that will make learning shapes a fun, hands-on experience for the kids!
30 Fun Ideas for Teaching Shapes
1. This free 2D Shapes Clip Cards activity helps kids practice shape identification and builds fine motor skills .
2. With this Magazine Shape Hunt kids will learn shapes while also practicing cutting, gluing and sorting.
3. Learning Shapes with Rainbow Walks – Make these shape rocks and add them to play for a fun, engaging way to explore shapes.
4. 2D Shapes Activity Digital Activity – This is a fun, interactive google slides / seesaw activity for learning shapes!
5. Trace the Shapes Art Project – Combine art with fine motor skills as your kids learn shapes!
6. Giant Shape Sorter – Your kids will have a blast learning shapes with this giant cardboard shape sorter.
7. Shape Bingo – Kids love Bingo! They’ll learn shapes while having a blast.
8. Roll a Shape Game – This is a quick and fun printable game that will help your kids learn to identify shapes!
9. Shape Books for Kids – Looking for some fantastic books about shapes for your kids? Here are 25 great books!
10. Transportation Shape Playdough Mats – If your students or kids love vehicles and play dough this will be a fun way for them to learn shapes!
Shape Games and Shape Printables
11. Chalk Shapes Jumping Game – Your kids will love this fun way to learn shapes while playing outside. Draw some chalk shapes and get ready for gross motor fun!
12. Shape Play Dough Mats – Combine math and sensory fun by adding these shape play dough mats to your centers.
13. Fruit Themed 2D Shape Matching Game – This fruit themed shape matching game is a great way to practice recognizing and naming shapes.
14. Simple Shape Sorting Activity – Grab some tape and create this fun and simple shape activity that the kids are going to love!
15. Shape Art Activity – Explore shapes while creating a cool piece of process art at the same time.
16. 2D Shape Puzzles – Add these shape puzzles to your math centers for a hands-on way to practice matching shapes.
17. Shape Monsters Collage Art – Create shape monsters with fun collage materials to help kids learn shapes!
18. Amazing Square Bubbles – These square bubbles are so cool. Invite the kids to build cool 3-dimensional bubble wands with this STEM project.
19. Block Painting – Spark creativity and explore shapes with this unique process art shape activity.
20. Shape Match Sensory Bin – Hide shapes in a shredded paper sensory bin and invite the kids to find and match shapes.
21. Math Game: Geometric Shapes – This hands-on shape game is a great spatial awareness activity.
22. Feed the Hungry Shape Monsters – This simple and fun game helps kids practice recognizing and sorting 2D shapes.
Fun Ideas for Learning Shapes
23. 2D Shape Puzzles – Kids will practice building and sorting shapes when they use these cool shape puzzles.
24. Paper Plate Shapes – Grab some paper plates and yarn so your kids can create this neat shape craft!
25. Shape Puzzles Freebie – Go on a fun shape hunt to find each match needed to complete the puzzle.
26. Shape Scavenger Hunt – Kids love scavenger hunts! Add this fun shape hunt to your plans for lots of fun and learning.
27. Nature Shapes Outdoor Activities – Explore nature while learning about shapes.
28. Farm Theme Shape Activities – These farm theme shape building mats are going to add lots of engaging shape exploration to your plans.
29. Sponge Stamped Triangle Collage – Create art and explore triangles with this fun process art shape activity.
30. Sticky Shape Bugs Activity – Making shape bugs on a sticky scene is a great way to develop fine motor skills while learning about shapes.
I hope this saves you lots of time planning fun, hands-on shape activities for the kids! With these engaging ideas, they will be learning shapes in no time.
25 Shape Activities for Kids
Categories Activities
All of these Shape Activities for Kids introduce toddlers and preschoolers to shapes through play-based learning. 25 ways to recognise, create, and explore basic shapes.
If you want to make your Shapes themed lessons a breeze, then check out the Shapes Activity Pack . It’s filled with math and literacy centers, fine motor activities and arts and crafts templates. All of which are aligned with preschool learning standards. Check it out today.
Disclosure: Some of the links provided in this blog are affiliate links. I will be paid a commission if you use this link to make a purchase.
Shape Arts and Crafts for Kids
1. block painting.
Blocks come in a variety of shapes. Circles, triangles, squares. Any picture can be broken down into these basic shapes. If your little ones are too young to make an actual picture, don’t worry, it’s still a lot of fun dunking the blocks in the paint and making shapes on a page.
2. Giant Shape Art for Kids
Giant Shape Art for Kids was a fun way to spend an afternoon with the kids. We used an old cardboard box and painters tape to create some fun tape resist art, exploring and learning all about shapes as we did it. If you’re teaching a toddler or preschool classroom, try this simple art activity, the kids will love it.
3. Black Glue Shape Art for Kids
Black Glue Shape Art for Kids is all about learning 2D shapes. Toddlers and preschoolers love art ideas for kids that are fun, while parents and teachers love art ideas that are easy and educational. This activity ticks all of those boxes.
Either make single pages for home, or make large ones as a small group project in the classroom. This activity can easily be adapted for both parents and teachers.
4. Kandinsky Shape Art for Kids – Messy Little Monster
Explore colors and shapes with your toddler or preschooler with this shape art for kids. This hands on learning art project inspired by Kandinsky. Is fantastic for kids of all ages.
5. Recycled Shapes Process Art – Mosswood Connections
Raid the recycle bin and use recycled items to make art. Kids will have fun discovering shapes with this Process Art Project.
Shape Sensory Activities for Kids
6. shape sorting sensory bin.
This shape sorting sensory bin is loads of fun for toddlers and preschoolers. Get the FREE printable shapes and start teaching some math.
7. Shape Match Sensory Bin – Happy Toddler Playtime
Shape Match Sensory Bin is a fun sensory bin using shredded paper. It’s a fun and easy way to learn and practice shape recognition with your toddler or preschooler.
8. Fizzy Shapes Sensory Bin – Happy Toddler Playtime
Shapes play ideas where science meets math will always be a hit with toddlers and preschoolers. Check out this fizzy shapes sensory bin.
9. Shape Button Sensory Bin – 3 Dinosaurs
Have you seen those buttons that are different shapes? If not, go and grab them because you can create so many different play based learning activities with them.
10. Shape Sensory Squish Bag – Still Playing School
Create a sensory squish bag for kids to learn shapes. Stick it on the window to see what happens when the sun shines through.
Shape Science Activities
11. building shapes – stem for kids.
This Building Shapes – STEM for Kids activity is a fun, play based learning activity for toddlers and preschoolers. Engineering for kids can be both easy and fun, and includes more versatility than just building blocks.
12. Which Shape is Strongest – Science Sparks
Did you know that under certain circumstances paper can be very strong? This easy investigation uses paper folded into different shaped columns to hold up books. Which shape will hold the most books, before crumbling under the weight?
13. 3D Bubble Shape Activity – Little Bins for Little Hands
Can you make bubbles different shapes? This is one of my favorite shape activities for kids because you find out how to make your own cool 3D bubble wands and explore the science of bubbles.
14. Floating Shapes Experiment – Active Littles
Want to learn how to make the floating dry erase marker experiment work? Learn how to make shapes float around on the top of water, just like magic.
15. Magic Disappearing Shapes Activity – Gift of Curiosity
This simple shapes activity brings some magic to your child’s learning by disappearing at your child’s command. Not bad for paper towels and water, is it?
Shape Fine Motor Activities for Kids
16. sticker shapes fine motor activity.
This sticker shapes fine motor activity is a fun way for toddlers and preschoolers to learn shapes and develop fine motor skills.
17. Mystery Shapes – Days of Grey
Mystery Shapes is a fun fine motor activity for toddlers and preschoolers. Join the dots together to discover what shapes are hidden there.
18. Basic Shapes Work Station – Learning 4 Kids
Shapes play ideas provide children with the opportunity to explore and create with shapes. It teaches shape recognition and has the benefit of developing fine motor skills.
19. Sand Shapes – Gift of Curiosity
Sand shapes, a shape themed art, and fine motor activity kids will love.
20. Playdough Shapes Puzzle – Mama OT
Help your child develop fine motor skills with this simple yet creative puzzle activity using shapes and play dough.
Shapes Free Printable Activities
21. craft stick shape mats.
Get your copy of these FREE Craft Stick Shape Mats. They’re perfect to help toddlers and preschoolers who are learning about shapes. The children will develop fine motor skills, math, language, and more with this easy, low-prep activity.
22. Shape Playdough Mats – Fantastic Fun and Learning
Use these shape play dough mats to help preschoolers and kindergarteners learn how to make 2D shapes and recognize shapes in everyday objects
23. Free Shape Lacing Cards – 3 Dinosaurs
When you’re looking for shape activities for kids, make sure you include some shape lacing cards. This is a fun way to learn shapes with some hand-on learning.
24. Free Shape Flashcards – Look We’re Learning
These free printable shape flashcards are a wonderful learning resource for toddlers, and preschoolers who are learning about 2-D shapes.
25. Free Shape Dot Marker Printables – 3 Dinosaurs
Use this printable with dot markers, playdough or manipulatives. This simple printable is so incredibly versatile, your students will love it.
26. Shape Stamp Painting
Make your own shape painting using shape stamps . This is an asy way to use those shape sorting toys in a fun new way.
Are you going to try any of these Shape Activities for kids? Don’t forget to pin the idea for later.
More Play Based Learning Activities
Shapes Activity Pack
25 Alphabet Activities for Kids
25 Weather Activities for Kids
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Fun with Mama
Toddler and preschool activities
Shapes Activities For Preschoolers
These hands-on 2D Shape activities for preschoolers will make learning shapes simple for teachers, and FUN for toddlers, preschoolers and kindergarteners. Did you know that learning shapes is a foundational skill? This can be done through having a preschool shapes theme week or by doing a shape of the week throughout the year.
In this post, I’m going to share with you my favorite shape resource that I’ve spent hours putting together so that you, my teacher friend, or fellow parent, don’t have to. I will also share my favorite free shape printables and simple activities you can do at home. You can check out my 2d shapes activity pack here.
Please note that while these shape activities for kindergarteners and preschoolers can be used by various ages. Adult supervision is always required.
You can find our favorite kids activity pack supplies here.
This page will be updated constantly to add more shapes activities.
Did you know that preschool shapes recognition is an early math skill? You also may be wondering how to teach basic shapes to preschoolers or toddlers and what shapes preschoolers should learn.
The shapes preschoolers should know are:
Take it further by introducing more shapes:
With these activities, not only will they be learning basic preschool shapes they will also work on early math skills and even learn preschool colors too. We often sprinkle in some shape activities throughout our preschool themes and units because repetition is the key. Children are sponges and they learn through repetition.
These activities will make teaching shapes more fun.
The first few activities on this post are from our 2D Shapes Activity Pack
GET THE SHAPE ACTIVITY PACK HERE
GET THE ABOVE SHAPE ACTIVITIES
2d shape posters.
Yes, hang those posters up! Children are more observant than you realize, so while they are learning shapes it’s a great idea to hang up some shape posters in your home or classroom.
Shape 3 Part Cards
3 part cards, also known as Nomenclature cards, refer to
- The picture only card
- The word only card
- The whole card <— also the control card that includes the picture and word.
These Montessori inspired cards enrich vocabulary, and reading and writing skills. They help build connections. Students will match the correct words to the correct whole card.
Playdough Shapes Cards
Children learn better when we can incorporate more of their senses. We prefer to use hands on activities that encourage children to move their hands and bodies. Using play dough to make shapes will not only help them learn how to form a shape, it will also strengthen their fine motor skills, strengthen their hands, and work on their visual perception.
2D Shape Sorting Mats
These shape sorting mats include basic shapes and for a more advanced child, I’ve also included some real life shape objects. Children can sort the shapes to their correct mat. With a younger child you may opt to only give the student 2 mats at once, while with an older child you can have them sort shapes amongst all 12 mats.
2D Shape Roads
Beep! Beep! Let’s have some fun with those toys at home. Learning can be fun, especially if you pair your favorite toy with a learning activity. Children will use a toy car to drive around the shape. Add more of a sensory aspect to it by adding shaving cream to the mat (make sure to laminate the mats first.) Have them drive through the messy shaving cream and then, when they are done, dump their cars in a water bin for a carwash. This adds a sensory aspect to it, and we know how much kids love Water Play
2D Shape Lacing Activity
2D Craft Stick Shape Cards
Children love to build and create. Not only is this great for working on problem solving skills and creativity, but they learn math skills that will help them in the future. Have students build shapes out of popsicle sticks. You can opt to add velcro dots to the edges of each stick to make the pieces more sticky. When done building shapes, see what else children opt to create.
Shape Count and Clip Cards Math Activity
First, identify the shape and then students will count how many shapes are on the card. Then they will clip the correct number.
Match The Shape Buttons
I have a 2.5 year old at home, and one of her favorite activities is anything that incorporates stickers or these shape buttons. Children will match the color and shape button to the corresponding spot on the mat. Do your little ones enjoy working with shape buttons too?
Sticker Shapes
While we are working on my toddlers (or is she a preschooler)’s favorite activity type I incorporated the pom pom shape activity. I normally offer this activity two ways. The first is with pom poms. Children will place the correct pom pom color onto each shape’s white spot. Then, once we are done with pom poms I give her some circle stickers and she can place the stickers on the white circles.
2D Shape Fish Tank Hunt
These fish come in different shapes and sizes. Students will identify the fish with the matching shape and then cover them up. You can use goldfish crackers to mark the shape.
2D Shape Puzzles
For young children, cut the puzzle into two pieces. For older children, cut the shape into 4 pieces. Then have students match the shape to the shape word heading.
2D Shape Hunt Shape Mats
The detective is on a mission. He is looking for specific shapes. Children will need to help the detective find the shape and then write the number they found. If you laminate the page children can use a dry erase marker to write the number. Or, if you don’t, you can also have them use a magnetic number instead.
Snail Shell 2D Shape Matching
Match the shape shell to the correct snail. You can make this a file folder game. Laminate the page and add velcro dots.
2D Shape Foldable Book
Fold the book then follow the prompts on each page to color, trace, and draw the shape.
2D Shape Patterns
Yep, there’s those buttons again. Like I mentioned before, we love them and if I’m going to purchase a material, I want to make sure we get to use them over and over again. These shape buttons pair perfectly with the shape pattern activity.
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You can get the above fun shape activities here:
GET THE ABOVE SHAPE ACTIVITIES HERE
Shape bestsellers in the shop.
More FUN Preschool shapes activities
Shapes themed toddler activities as well as preschool activities , constantly make a reappearance in our home.
More Of The Best Preschool Shapes Activities
Mystery shapes.
Check out two of my daughters favorite shapes activities in her new YouTube video… have your child learn along with her.
Preschool Shapes Matching Activity
Make shapes collages using contact paper. This sticky shapes activity is a shapes sorting activity. The contact paper removes the need for glue and makes it easier for a toddler. This learning shapes and colors for toddler Printable activity looks as pretty as it is fun. My toddler had a blast placing the small stars in the big star.
Preschool Shapes Math Hunt Sensory Bin
This puzzle shapes hunt activity works wonderfully with any puzzle you have at home. Kids will learn their shapes through a sensory experience. The Shapes sensory bin can be made harder by having your child close their eyes and feeling the shape. My toddler was impressed by my preschool shapes game.
Toddler Shapes Activity Fishing
Preschool Shapes Paint Resist Activity
Try out this free printable shape scavenger hunt.
12 Preschool Shapes Sensory Bins from around the web
We love sensory bins in our home and these 12 shapes sensory bins from around the web give you many different options on teaching your child shapes through sensory exploration.
Jelly Beans Color and Preschool Shapes Matching
Who can resist colorful jelly beans play? This activity works on shape and color recognition.
Shapes Fine Motor Activity
This activity is a little more advanced and works well for older preschoolers and elementary grade schoolers. I also enjoyed sewing and weaving with the kids. You can work on color recognition too.
Create a Preschool Shapes Stamp
Make shape stamps out of foam shapes and popsicle sticks.
Make a Shapes Canvas Painting
Bingo Colors Printable Game
Shapes Activities for Toddlers
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Shapes Activities for Toddlers
I've had a lot of requests lately for shapes activities for toddlers. Shapes are a great early numeracy activity, and these are great activities to combine with our toddler counting activities and ABC activities.
When introducing shapes to toddlers, start with the world around you. Point out shapes in the environment, discuss what shapes look like and play eye-spy with shapes (eye-epy a red circle etc..). Talk about the features of the shapes:
- How many sides does it have?
- Does it have any corners? How many?
- Are the sides straight or curved?
- What can we see that is also a square?
We've found 20 great shape activities that are just perfect for toddlers and that I'm sure they will enjoy!
Shape Matching Puzzle - Simple Fun for Kids
Shape Playdough Mats - PreKinders
Shape Puzzle Busy Bag - Teach Me Mommy
Sponge Shape Stamps - Buggy and Buddy
Shape Board Game for Toddlers - Simple Fun for Kids
Sensory Shape Sorting - Stir the Wonder
Circle Art Process Painting - Paper and Glue
Match Stick Shapes - Kidz Activities
Window Shape Matching - Powerful Mothering
Shape Sensory Bin - Teaching 2 and 3 Year Olds
Shape Invitation to Create - Days with Grey
Touch and Feel Shapes - Teach Me Mommy
Shape Hopscotch - Creative Family
Sticky Paper Shape Sorting - Living Montessori Now
Playdough Shape Building - The Preschool Toolbox
Shapes Quiet Book - Powerful Mothering
Finding Shapes at the Playground - Buggy and Buddy
Shapes from Recyclables - Teach Me Mommy
Shape Button Sort - Life with Moore Babies
Shape Matching - Simple Fun for Kids
If you want to keep your toddler busy makes sure you subscribe to our weekly newsletter and follow My Bored Toddler on Facebook , Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest .
If you enjoyed these shape activities for toddlers then I'm sure you'll also love:
ABC Activities for Toddlers
Best Apps for Toddlers
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10 Awesome Shape Activities for Toddlers
- Preschooler
Here are 10 super fun and easy shape activities for toddlers! Simple creative hands-on learning play ideas that you come set up at home or in the classroom. Engage your toddler in these early math ideas to help expose them to shapes!
Why Learning Shapes is Important
There are shapes all around us. We use them, see them and play with them every single day. Learning about shapes will not only allow your child to identity and organize visual information, it will also help them develop other important skills like science and math.
Shape Activities for Toddlers
1. fizzy shapes sensory bin.
Here is a fun science meets early math sensory bin for toddlers and preschoolers!! Make fizzy shapes using baking soda and vinegar!!
2. Shapes Parking Lot Activity
Here is a fun activity to help your toddler or preschooler practice learning shapes and colours. Grab your cars for this fun hands-on learning activity!
3. Fridge Shape Match Activity
Here is a creative and easy early math activity to help your toddler practice their shapes using magnetic tiles on your fridge!
4. Shape Match Sensory Bin
Shape Match Sensory Bin is a fun sensory bin using shredded paper! It’s a great way to learn and practice shapes with your toddler or preschooler!
5. Sticky Tape Shapes Activity
Sticky tape shapes activity is a fun and super easy toddler shape and fine motor skill activity. It’s very easy to set up and makes a great activity for toddlers stuck indoors!
6. Pom Pom Shape Sorting for Toddlers
Add Pom Poms to your shape sorter the next time you are playing with your toddler for a fun and colourful learning activity.
7. Shape Printing
Celebrate all the colours of autumn with this fun and easy process art activity painting using different shapes!
8. LEGO Shape Puzzles
On a sheet of paper trace several different shapes of LEGO Duplo using a marker. Invite your toddler to match the LEGO pieces with to the shapes on the page.
9. Shape Soup Sensory Bin
10. Bunny Shape Sort Sticky Wall Activity
Bunny Shape Sorting: Sticky Wall Activity is a fun and easy easy math activity for toddlers and preschoolers. Create different shaped bunnies for a fun gross motor shape sorting activity!
Age Suitability for Shape Activities for Toddler
This activity is good for toddlers, pre-k, kindergarten aged children 3 years old and up. But geared towards toddlers. My kids are 4.5, 4.5 and 8 years old.
Mess Level for Shape Activities Toddler
The mess level for these activities varies.
Difficulty to Create
Varies from very easy to moderate.
Skills Developed
Early math skill, sensory play, language development, number recognition, color recognition, hand-eye coordination, fine motor skills, imaginative play, creativity.
Supplies
(This post and list contains affiliate links for your convenience. If you make a purchase using one of these links, I may earn a commission. Please visit my disclosure policy for more information.)
Books, TV Show & Play Kits!
Book: exciting sensory bins for curious kids.
Did you know I wrote a book of sensory bins? Click here for more information Exciting Sensory Bin for Curious Kids . Or grab your copy at Amazon .
Boring afternoons are made exciting with awesome animal-based bins, like Salty Shark Bay or Yarn Farm. Pretend play bins like Birthday Cake Sensory Play or Bubble Tea Party encourage creativity and imagination. And your kids will have so much fun they won’t even know they’re getting smarter with STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art and math) activities like Sink or Float Soup, Magnetic Letter Hunt or Ice Cream Scoop and Count.
Designed for toddlers 18 months and up.
Book: Super STEAM Activity Book for Kids
Learning all about science, technology, engineering, art, and math sets kids up for scholastic success―and it can be so much fun! Watch kids enjoy building STEAM skills as they color friendly fish, help water find its way to tree roots, solve math problems with mazes, and more.
Find out more and grab your copy here .
Designed for preschoolers 3 years old and up.
Book: Big Book of Riddles for Kids
Riddle me this: What’s an exciting way to practice critical thinking while having a blast? The Big Riddle Book for Kids , of course! From hilarious puns to tough brain teasers, kids can build problem-solving skills with hundreds of riddles that show them how to think outside the box.
- 350 riddles for kids —Have hours of fun with riddles, puns and jokes, and math and logic puzzles that’ll get their wheels turning!
- Level up their skills —Riddles get trickier as kids progress through the book, challenging them as they get better at solving puzzles!
- Double-check their work —Kids can check their answers in the back of the book with a handy answer key.
Help children expand their minds while having fun with this puzzle book for kids!
Designed for kids ages 6 years old and up.
TV Show: Curious Crafting
I’m so excited to finally share my new crafting TV show Curious Crafting which launched July 1 at on TVOkids and TVOkids YouTube !
Set in the ultimate crafting space, Curious Crafting is a short form pre-school age series about the joy of making crafts. I lead a rotating cast of adorable little preschoolers (including my own) making magic out of common household objects.
In each episode we transform recycled items into magical crafts like a milk carton school bus, paper bag puppet or cotton pad turtle. The crafters learn and laugh their way through each activity while demonstrating what their young imaginations can create.
Curious Crafting shares the adventure and joy of making art with takeaway lessons for creating crafts at home.
This show designed for toddlers and preschoolers 2.5 years old and up.
The Best Sensory Play Kits for Kids
Play is at the core of learning during the early years and it can take many forms. One of the most important of these is sensory play because it engages all of a child’s senses (taste, touch, smell, sight and hearing) and has a enoumous positive impact on brain development.
Our Sensory Play Kits are some fun and easy ways to keep your child engaged while at the same time using sensory play to nurture their mind!
Shop our ready made play kits here .
WILL YOU MAKE THESE SHAPE ACTIVITIES FOR TODDLERS? PIN IT FOR LATER!
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- Fine Motor Skills
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Learning Shapes at Home with Hands-On Activities
March 16, 2020 by Rachel Cooper
Inside: Learning shapes at home is super easy with these fun hands-on activities for toddlers and preschoolers! Free printables included.
Shape recognition is one of the earliest focuses from parents, alongside colors .
It can be daunting to know where to start.
As always, incorporating learning concepts into the child’s play is the most natural way to allow for progress.
This compilation of shape activities focuses on using simple materials that you can easily set up within your own home.
Note: This is part of a series of At-Home activities for parents and caregivers. Make sure to also see our other posts in this At-Home series:
- 55+ Fine Motor Activities for Home
- 25+ Color Activities and Printables for Home
- 20+ Easy Toddler Activities for Home
- 20+ Alphabet Activities for Home
Stamp Squares : Use your children’s square blocks with paint for a simple art activity.
Circle Painting : Use paper tubes to stamp paint onto circle-shaped paper.
Shape Hunt : Cut shapes out of felt and hide them, like we did with our circle hunt activity.
Shape Sorting Sticky Wall – Adhere contact paper onto your wall with the outlines of shapes to sort foam shapes onto. (Modern Preschool)
Simple Shape Puzzles – Draw shapes onto multiple popsicle sticks to create simple shape puzzles. (Toddler At Play)
Square Painting with Cubes – Use unifix cubes or any other plastic cube toys that you have at home to dip into paint and stamp squares. (No Time For Flash Cards)
Tape Outlines – Stick tape outlines of shapes onto your carpet for kids to trace over with their small toys. (Learning 4 Kids)
Shape Slime – Add small foam shape pieces to slime for a fun sensory learning experience. (Pocket of Preschool)
Sticker Tracing – Draw outlines of shapes onto paper to trace by placing stickers over the outline. (Busy Toddler)
Paper Roll Stampers – Form paper rolls into various shapes to use as stampers with paint. (Chalk Academy)
Driveway Shape Large Motor – Use chalk to draw different shapes on your driveway and call out different shapes for your children to jump to. (Creative Family Fun)
Do-a-dot Shapes – Kids will stamp along the lines of these shape printables. (3 Dinosaurs)
Shapes Book – Help your child assemble a shape book for them to see examples of each shape. (Pastels and Macarons)
Playdough Mats – Laminate these free mats to mold over with playdough. (Free Homeschool Deals)
More activities for at home:
Grab your printable list:
Fine motor stamping sheets for use with dot markers, such as Do-A-Dot.
10 different shapes: square, circle, triangle, rectangle, oval, diamond, hexagon, octagon, star, heart. Each shape includes the name below for tracing.
Includes two difficulty versions for modifications. Also includes a Spanish & English version of both, for 4 files total.
- Shape Dot Stamping: Simple (English)
- Shape Dot Stamping: Simple (Spanish)
- Shape Dot Stamping: Extra Dots (English)
- Shape Dot Stamping: Extra Dots (Spanish)
4 files, 40 pages total
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Toddler Approved
Simple hands on activities for busy parents.
Shape Matching Activity for Preschoolers
Need an easy to set up activity? Want to teach your preschooler about shapes? Try this simple shape matching activity for preschoolers!
This shape matching activity for preschoolers is so simple, but it packs a punch so many good skills are built through activities like this.
Hunts are my favorite activity to pull out when the day is dragging. They are so easy to make. You just need paper, tape, and some markers. Easy peasy lemon squeezy!
Did you know that shapes are EVERYWHERE??!! They are on signs, in books, around your house, and even in numbers and letters.
When kids know their shapes, they can better make sense of their world. They can categorize things in their brain better and it actually makes life easier for them!
Why teach preschoolers about shapes?
Learning shapes teaches your little ones learn…
- How to understand math. Shape activities teach kids about geometric concepts including shape, size, space and position.
- How to sort and categorize. Learning shapes and colors teaches children to think about attributes of objects and make observations about similarities and differences. This is needed for problem solving.
- How to learn Letters and Numbers. Did you know numbers and letters are made of shapes?
- How to use descriptive vocabulary. Knowing shape names helps your kids as they describe things and express what they want to say.
- H ow to use visual discrimination. The world is made up of shapes. As kids learn shape names, if they are looking for something, they can easily scan and make senses of things quickly. For example, if your child is looking for a red triangle, she can ignore all the red circles and red squares. It makes her more efficient as she engages with her environment.
RELATED: Need more shape activity ideas? We have an awesome list!
How to set up this simple shape matching activity for preschoolers!
Here's what you need:
- Roll of paper
- Painters tape
- Thick colored construction paper/cardstock
RELATED: Love hunts? We have over 40+ learning hunts for kids!
- Cut some shapes out of construction paper ( or use the printable shapes here )
- Tape a large piece of to the wall/table
- Trace the paper shapes onto the big paper
- Tape the construction paper shapes around the house
How to Play
- Have kids go find the shapes around the house and bring them back and tape them to the shapes drawn on the big paper.
- Hide again and repeat!
- Optional: Have kids find the paper shape AND and object that is that shape.
You can also introduce shapes through picture books.
Toddler Approved is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. Read more about these links in my Disclosure Policy .
Shape by Shape by Suse Macdonald is a great story to read along with this activity! The cut paper shapes in the book will fascinate kids!
Learn new vocabulary, practice taking turns, and build fine & gross motor skills while you play!
RELATED: Need more easy to set up activities? Try our list of BEST activities for toddlers (and preschoolers!).
Do you have any other favorite shape activities for preschoolers we should try? Share them in the comments!
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TODDLER ACTIVITY CALENDARS FOR PARENTS
Make your life easier with a plan.
The Year of Play is a simple ebook filled with a year of hands-on playful learning activities. It is created for kids ages 2-6 years old and includes 12 monthly calendars and 48 weekly activity plans!
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August 24, 2022 at 2:42 am
The printable shapes pdf is missing from this post.
August 24, 2022 at 5:15 am
The PDF should be added now! You can find it here: https://toddlerapproved.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/shape-outlines.pdf
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Shapes Activities for Preschoolers
One of the first math concepts that preschoolers learn is identifying shapes . They begin to distinguish among the different shapes and categorize items according to shape. They learn the names of shapes and their characteristics. They find shapes in everyday items. This collection of shape activities for preschoolers can lead preschoolers to explore shapes in all kinds of ways.
These activities will help your preschoolers learn their shapes. These shape activities for toddlers, will work in your preschool classroom and your kindergarten classroom.
1. Road Shapes with Cars (Pre-K Pages) – 22 printable road shape mats to help your litte learners identify shapes.
2. Making Shapes with Play Dough (Pre-K Pages) – A fun, hands-on playful learning experience that uses play dough to teach shapes!
3. Pattern Block Shapes (Pre-K Pages) – Pattern blocks can actually help your little learners build a strong foundation for learning geometry later.
4. Making Shapes with Geoboards (Pre-K Pages) – If you haven’t tried geoboard activities in your classroom yet, your kids are going to love them!
5. Create a Shapes Photo Book (Pre-K Pages) – To introduce shape concepts to my son, I grabbed the book So Many Circles, So Many Squares from our library as the anchor to our learning ship. Using this book, we went on a shape scavenger hunt and made a fun shape keepsake.
6. Perfect Square Shapes Art (Pre-K Pages) – This Perfect Square art activity is so easy to set up and totally open-ended. It goes perfectly with the book and would be an excellent addition to a shapes unit.
7. Building Shapes with Craft Sticks (Pre-K Pages) – Pair this activity with the book Shapes, Shapes, Shapes by Tana Hoban and you’ve got the perfect low-prep shapes lesson!
8. Teaching 3D Shapes (Pre-K Pages) – Here are some of my favorite ideas for teaching 3D shapes to young children in pre-k or kindergarten. I also wrote some very simple 3D shape songs for you that incorporate hands on learning; keep reading to download the 3D shapes printable song charts.
9. Nature Shape Scavenger Hunt (Pre-K Pages) – A Star in My Orange is a great way to reinforce shape recognition with your preschoolers. They will also immediately want to run outside for their very own shapes scavenger hunt in nature!
10. The Shape of Things Chalk Drawings (Pre-K Pages) – Shapes are found, identified, and drawn in all preschool classrooms! Discovering just how often circles, squares, and triangles occur in our everyday life make them relevant to children.
11. Shape Wands (Pre-K Pages) – Make some shape wands and turn your home or classroom into the perfect place for kids to learn and identify shapes.
12. Shape Exploration (Pre-K Pages) – After reading the wonderful book Mouse Shapes by Ellen Walsh , I thought it would be fun to make a mouse that could be used in a shape game. The mice in the book explore shapes so, why shouldn’t we?
13. Make a Tortilla Shape Snack (Pre-K Pages) – We have the perfect recipe for exploring a math concept. Read aloud one great children’s book. Make a healthy and yummy treat. Combine the two together and you have a lesson on shapes .
14. Shapes Word Chart (Pre-K Pages) – This word chart focused on shapes but you can make a word chart for any topic.
15. “I Have Who Has” Shapes Game (Prekinders) – You may have seen the “I Have, Who Has” card games circulating the internet a lot lately, so this is a fun twist for Pre-K to teach shapes.
16. Games and Activities for Teaching Shapes (Prekinders) – Here are a fun few ways to teaching shapes, like shape bingo and a memory game.
17. Tracing Shapes on the Flannel Board (Teach Preschool) – A wonderful way to introduce letters and shapes while building pre-writing skills!
18. Hunting for Shapes (Teach Preschool) -Explore shapes with a fun and interactive game!
19. Exploring Shapes with Blocks on a Table Top (Teach Preschool) – A simple and engaging exploration of shapes and colors!
20. Learning Shapes by Rolling a Ball (Hands On As We Grow) – Try a fun hands on activity for toddlers for a creative twist to learn shapes!
21. Finding Shapes at the Playground (Buggy and Buddy)- Just print out the free shape hunt printable and go searching for shapes at the playground with this fun geometry activity for children!
22. Geometric Shapes Math Activity (Little Bins for Little Hands) – This simple geometric shapes activity for kids is easy to do at home or as a math center in school. It also makes a terrific STEAM project including a bit of art and design too.
23. Gruffalo Themed Shape Animals (Educators’ Spin on It) – Exploring shapes with young children can be such fun when you involve a few animal friends from The Gruffalo.
24. Feed the Shape Monster Game (Imagination Tree) – Make a fun activity for preschoolers and school aged kids with this feed the hungry shape monsters sorting game!
25. Sticky Shape Bugs Activity (Mom Inspired Life) – This was a great way to develop fine motor skills and critical thinking skills while learning about shapes.
26. Learning Shapes with Spaghetti Noodles (Teaching Mama) – Looking for a fun way to teach shapes? Well here’s a very fun way using spaghetti noodles! This hands-on activity also is a great sensory activity.
27. Matching Shapes to Outlines (Busy Toddler) – Create this fun easy DIY shape mat to practice shapes with your preschoolers.
28. Chalk Shapes Jumping Game (Craftulate) – All you need for this shape activity is some sidewalk chalk!
29. Open and Closed Polygons Game (JDaniel4’s Mom) Grab some LEGOs and have fun with these polygon games, like hockey!
30. Shape Sensory Squish Bag (Still Playing School) – Create this sensory squish bag with triangles, circles, and squares. It’s irresistible to touch and talk about in the window or on the table. It’s super easy to make, too!
31. DIY Shape Puzzles (Munchkins and Moms) – If you have some Jenga blocks and markers, then this easy DIY shape puzzle will be a fun engaging activity for your preschoolers.
32. Stamping Shapes in Kinetic Sand (Still Playing School) – Stamping shapes into kinetic sand is a great opportunity to work on shape identification, count the sides and corners, and compare and contrast the shapes.
33. Making Trucks from Shapes (Powerful Mothering) – Using your wooden blocks to draw and create trucks!
34. DIY Waldorf Square (Rhythms of Play) – An easy DIY toy for kids made with wooden blocks and liquid watercolor paints.
35. Magazine Shape Hunt and Sort (Mom Inspired Life) – This magazine shape hunt is jam-packed with learning! Kids will learn shapes while they practice cutting, gluing and sorting. It’s also an awesome way to work on critical thinking and observation skills.
36. Building Rockets with Shapes (Stir the Wonder) – Building rockets with shapes is a fun way to review shapes and colors with toddlers and preschoolers!
37. Build on Shape Outlines (Brick by Brick) – Use wooden blocks in a new fun way and work on shapes at the same time!
38. Shapes in Our Neighborhood Book (Munchkins and Moms) – Go for a walk and look for shapes in the neighborhood and then create a photo book after!
39. Sorting Shapes in the Sensory Bin (Learning 4 Kids) – Your preschoolers will practice their shapes and fine motor skills while having fun with this shape sensory bin.
40. I Spy Shape Hunt (Munchkins and Moms) – Create these fun easy spy glasses and go on a shape hunt!
2 thoughts on “Shapes Activities for Preschoolers”
I cant find these on your members site.
Hi Stacy, These are free so you can just download them right from Pre-K Pages. With more than 300 free printables at Pre-K Pages I didn’t want to clutter the membership vault with them.
Comments are closed.
See our latest activities and ideas first!
12 Fun and Educational Shape Activities for Toddlers: From Montessori Hands-On Learning to Printables
Shapes can be so much fun. They can be found everywhere, from buildings to things we eat, to signs we see on the street. So take advantage of these moments while you are with your toddler. Share the things you are seeing and have fun. Learning shapes is the first step towards learning math skills, which we know are very important skills to have. So whether you are raising the next Frank Lloyd Wright, Einstein, or even Ms. Frizzle start them out with some fun, purposeful play with shapes.
11 Fun and Educational Shape Activities for Toddlers: From Montessori Hands-On Learning to Printables
Teaching toddlers shapes can be a lot of fun! There are many different ways to do it, and the activities can be educational and entertaining. On this page, we will explore a variety of shape activities for toddlers. You can find easy do it yourself shape crafts, some Montessori-inspired hands-on learning ideas, and then move on to toddler-friendly printables.
Let’s get started!
Teaching Toddlers Shapes
One way to teach shapes to toddlers is through crafts. A simple and easy shape craft is a paper plate shape collage. All you need for this activity are some paper plates, glue, and whatever materials you want to use for the collage (construction paper, tissue paper, etc). Cut the paper plates into different shapes and let your toddler glue them onto a piece of paper. This is a great activity for teaching different shapes, colors, and textures.
Another fun shape activity for toddlers is to create a shape scavenger hunt . This can be done both inside and outside. Make a list of different shapes you want your toddler to find, and then help them search for those items. For example, you may want to look for a square box, a circular can, a triangular piece of paper, etc. This is a great way to get your toddler moving and exploring their environment.
If you’re looking for something a little more hands-on, try these Montessori-inspired shape activities. First, you’ll need to gather some materials . For this activity, you’ll need a variety of small objects that are all different shapes (buttons, coins, blocks, etc). You will also need a tray or shallow dish for each shape. Label each tray with a shape, then put the corresponding objects into that tray. Let your toddler explore the shapes and match the things to the tray. This is a great way to introduce shape names and concepts.
Teaching Toddlers Shapes Through Play
There are also many different shape printables that you can use with your toddler. These are great for teaching shapes, colors, and numbers. You can find a variety of printables Here.
Shape Activities for Toddlers
We used our Geometric shaped blocks from Learning Resources with the shape pack from 1+1+1=1 for this wonderful lesson.
Reggio Inspired activities using the shadows in the room. Children love to incorporate natural light and shadows into their play. It is fascinating to watch how they explore and learn on their own.
When you are looking to organize all of these blocks, check out this article on how to store magnetic tiles .
Color and Shape Activities for Toddlers
Block play days! Get out all of your blocks, and just let the children build. They use many different shapes and have a fun, hands-on learning experience. You can also easily introduce pattern making with the blocks; start easy using 2 different shapes, for instance, an A B pattern with circles and squares(circle/square/circle/square). You can gradually add shapes and different patterns as they master them.
This shape activity I put together using 1+1+1=1 shape pack. I made the clothespins to match, this is great for fine motor skills and visual recognition.
We used the color wheel for fun ways to learn colors, but you can definitely use it for shapes too.
Free Printable Shapes Scavenger Hunt from My Bored Toddler.
How cute and easy is this shape touch and find game from Pink Stripey Socks?!
Fun with Shapes Activities
I hope you have enjoyed these fun shape activities for teaching toddlers.
13+ Fine Motor Activities and Skills for Preschoolers: The best fine motor activities for preschoolers, toddlers, and kindergarten
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10 Hands-On Shapes Recognition Activities for Preschoolers
By: Author Tanja McIlroy
Posted on Last updated: 25 January 2023
Categories Early Mathematical Skills
Teaching children about shapes should be a fun, hands-on experience. It is by experiencing concepts through the body and the senses that real learning happens in the early years.
Scroll down to the section ‘10 simple shapes recognition activities’ for some great ideas.
Why is it Important to Learn About Shapes?
An important part of child development, shape recognition is about more than just being able to spot the basic shapes. It’s important for building early maths , reading and other areas too.
Shapes are found all around us and take many different forms, both two-dimensional and three-dimensional.
Children learn that shapes have properties – such as lines, curves, sizes, lengths and positions in space , and that all physical objects have shape.
They develop their visual perception (when the brain interprets what the eyes see) as they are exposed to shapes around them.
Shapes are a part of mathematical concepts (like geometry) and are also used in many scientific and technical fields.
The recognition of shapes is crucial for learning to read and building early literacy skills .
Letters are made up of shapes and children need to learn to distinguish, recognize and remember the specific shapes in order to read fluently. Shapes are the first ‘symbols’ children learn to interpret. [ source ]
How Do You Teach Shape Recognition?
The best way for children to learn about shapes is through play. They need many opportunities to touch and see three-dimensional shapes in their daily lives.
These concepts can also be taught through shape recognition games and activities that are planned specifically to introduce the concept of shape.
Activities like tracing and worksheets are best kept for much older children as these are unlikely to hold a child’s attention for long, and they are not really meaningful to a young child.
It is more important to focus on doing hands-on activities during preschool so that a child fully understands the properties of shapes by experiencing them with their body and all their senses .
It is also important for parents and teachers to actively teach the vocabulary about shapes. They need to hear concepts such as:
- Straight lines or curvy lines
- Size – bigger, smaller, longer, etc.
- Round, pointy
- 2-dimensional, 3-dimensional
- The names of shapes – oval, rectangle, triangular prism
This can be done in natural ways during a conversation:
- Is your dinner plate round?
- What else is round in our house?
- This picture of a tent looks like a triangle – it’s pointy at the top.
When teaching the shapes, remember children learn these in a concrete-pictorial-abstract way, as they do many other concepts.
They learn the shape of a physical object, and then later learn to associate a picture of a shape with the physical object. After that, they can recognize an abstract representation of a shape.
An example of this is playing with a beach ball and learning that it is round; then understanding that a picture of a ball represents a round, circular shape; then identifying a simple circle drawn on paper.
10 Simple Shapes Recognition Activities and Games
Here are some simple shape activities to try at home or school.
1. Shape Sorting
Sorting is an important mental concept and it’s easy to do with shapes.
Provide a container of shapes – cutouts, wooden or plastic shapes – and get kids to sort them according to different criteria.
Here are some examples:
- Shapes with straight edges vs shapes with curved edges
- Shapes with 3 sides and shapes with 4 sides
- Shapes with corners and shapes without corners
- 2D vs 3D shapes
Here are more fun sorting activities for preschoolers .
2. Body Shapes
Play a movement game with shapes. Say the name of a shape and ask children to make the shape with their bodies.
Get them to straighten up into a tall rectangle, puff their arms out to the side to make themselves round, stand with legs far apart and arms pointed above you to make a triangle, etc.
Before you show or help with ideas, see if the kids can figure out on their own how to make these shapes. They may think outside the box and find new ways to make the shapes.
This is a great activity for body awareness .
3. Block and Ball Play
Children need regular exposure to shapes by playing with blocks, balls and other toys during their free play time.
This is an activity that doesn’t need much regulation by an adult but is as important as planned shapes activities.
4. Playdough Shapes
Give kids playdough and shape cutters and let them explore different shapes this way.
Make a batch of easy homemade playdough and this will keep kids occupied for hours.
If you don’t have cutters in the form of shapes, then improvise with tins (round), plastic containers (square and rectangle), etc.
5. Yummy Shapes
For a tastier version of the above activity – that will leave a bigger imprint on kids’ memory – make shapes out of cookie dough and then eat them after!
6. Find the Shapes
Show children an example of a simple shape, such as a circle, and challenge them to find as many items as they can around them that have the same shape. (Here are more games about circles to try).
They could also draw pictures of all the things they can think of that have a circle shape.
This teaches kids that shapes are part of their world.
7. Build With Shapes
If you have plastic or wooden shapes that are relatively flat, let kids ‘build’ pictures out of them using the shapes.
They could construct a house or a person, for example, by learning to use the shapes to substitute the various parts they need.
These shapes can also be made out of cardboard.
8. Feel the Shape
Use the same shapes from the activity above to do a sensory activity.
Blindfold a child, then give him a shape or ask him to pick a shape out of a bag. He must describe the shape (it is round and has no straight edges), then say what the shape is.
If he guesses right, he can keep the shape. If not, it goes back into the bag. This can be turned into a game to see how many shapes each person can accumulate.
9. Shape Stamping
Provide poster paints on trays and get kids to stamp shapes onto them.
Use blocks for these shapes or make potato prints , sponge shapes, etc. Use your imagination.
10. Shape Pictures
A fun art activity, this can be attempted after children have had ample opportunity to make shape pictures out of real shapes.
Provide lots of pre-cut paper shapes in various colours, white paper and glue.
Get kids to make their own shape pictures. Let them use their creativity and do not try to guide their creations.
Definitely don’t give them a model to copy! This should be a form of process art , where the learning is in the doing, not the final product.
If you are looking for more creative art ideas, try these shape crafts for preschoolers .
“ Learning Through Play: A parent’s guide to the first five years ” , written by Jan Natanson.
“ Language and School Readiness ” , written by Martie Pieterse.
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12 Fun Preschool Shapes Activities to Try
Exploring and identifying shapes is an important learning experience for preschoolers. Shapes are all around us and understanding them makes children make sense of the world. By learning shapes, kids develop their memory, visual recognition, spatial awareness and problem-solving. They should learn to identify basic shapes and recognize them in everyday objects from an early age.
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Creative Shape Activities for Preschool
There are many shape activities for preschool that you could engage in with your children to enhance their creativity and imagination. Young kids can explore shapes by building with blocks, sorting objects and playing shape-related games. Teaching shapes is a great way to learn new vocabulary and develop early math skills while having fun. Below are three of my favorite shape activities that I have used in my classroom. I love to watch as the children’s understanding grows while setting a strong foundation for future learning.
1. Play Dough Shape Activities for Preschool
Prepare different colored play dough and some pictures or real shapes. Go through their characteristics by introducing words like corners and edges. Let the children explore shapes and play with them for a few minutes.
Then, ask the children to warm up the play dough and open and close their hands. Teach shapes by showing them how to make different shapes using the play dough. Can they make the basic shapes of a circle, square or triangle?
2. Shape Collage Creation
For this activity, you will need:.
An A3 sheet for each child, colored cards, scissors and gluesticks.
Begin by introducing the concept of collage to the children. Explain that a collage is a piece of art created by putting different materials together, even if they overlap. Show them an example you created, and go through all the shapes you have already cut out.
If the children are older, they can draw and cut the shapes themselves.
Can they pick out a square? Can they find a yellow triangle? Go through all the names of the shapes you will work with.
After all the shapes have been cut out, model how to stick the shapes on the paper to create a collage.
Allow children to display their collages and talk about them.
3. Shape Printing
You will need:.
Sponges or foam cut in different shapes, poster paint and sheets of paper or card.
Shape printing is a very fun way to teach shapes! First, explain to the children that they will be doing a fun geometry activity where they will be using shapes as stamps to create unique patterns and designs.
Engage them in a discussion about the shapes made from sponges or foams and see if they can recognize them. Change the colored paint you will be working with, too. Can children name all the colors? Do they know which colors can be mixed to obtain a different color?
Model how to dip the sponges in the paint and ensure they are evenly coated. Encourage children to experiment with different combinations of shapes, colors, textures and arrangements to express their creativity.
Can they create patterns?
After the activity, open a class discussion on their creations and ask them about their favorite prints.
You can even create a collaborative shape print mural by sticking all the pieces of paper together.
4. Shape Block Towers
For this shape activity you will need:
Building blocks in different shapes, sizes, and colors. Cuisenaire rods work fine, too.
For older children, include shapes such as cubes, rectangular prisms, cylinders, and pyramids. Begin by explaining that they will be using different shapes of blocks to build towers.
Engage the students in a discussion about the different shapes of blocks. Show examples and let your little learners identify shapes.
Then model how to build a tower by using the shapes at hand.
Mix things up. Challenge some children by allowing them to use a certain number of blocks, include specific shapes, or build the tallest tower they can.
Can children use different combinations of shapes, create patterns, or alternate colors? Encourage discussion.
Once the towers are built, talk about the children’s creations. Ask questions, such as which shapes were the easiest or most challenging to work with, and what they learned from the activity.
As a plenary, ask children to describe their towers in the classroom. Expand on their imagination by asking them questions such as: ‘Who lives in your tower?’, ‘How many rooms does it have?’, ‘What is there around your tower?’
Problem-Solving with Shapes
Problem-solving with shapes in the classroom offers students an opportunity to develop critical thinking skills while learning shapes and exploring geometric concepts.
Here are some of my favorite shape activities I have used in my classroom:
5. Shape Puzzle Challenge
You will need different shape puzzles. Explain that they will have to fit different shapes in the correct gaps.
Gather age-appropriate puzzle pieces in various shapes and different puzzle boards. Discuss each shape, and talk about how they can fit together with another shape, or which gap they correspond to.
A tangram is a great resource to use, like in the picture below:
For older children, introduce pentagons, hexagons and octagons.
Show the children how to fit the pieces together on the puzzle board. Distribute the puzzle pieces to the children or allow them to take turns selecting pieces. Encourage them to work together, guiding them as needed to fit the pieces together correctly.
Let the children explore the puzzles individually or in pairs. Observe and provide support as necessary.
As a plenary, ask children which shapes were the easiest or most challenging to piece together. Why?
This shape activity is great to develop fine motor skills .
6. Shape Memory Game
Learning shapes can be enjoyable and engaging with the right activity, such as this fun shapes game.
Cards that have different shapes printed on them. You can make the cards yourself, or find them online and print them.
How to play this shape activity:
Start by placing the cards face down in a grid formation. Start with only 4 cards first, especially if the children are very young, then gradually increase to six or even eight.
The first player flips over two cards, trying to find a matching pair of shapes. If successful, they keep the cards and take another turn. If not, they flip the cards back over, and it becomes the next player’s turn.
The game continues until all the matches are found. The player with the most pairs at the end wins. This game enhances memory skills , shape recognition, concentration, and fine motor skills.
It can be adapted for different levels by adjusting the number of cards or introducing more complex shapes.
7. Shape Sorting Bonanza
This is one of the most fun shape activities for preschool that I recommend you try with your young kids or students.
Different shapes that are made from different materials eg. wood, plastic or card.
To play a shape-sorting bonanza game with preschool kids, gather a variety of objects or flashcards representing different shapes.
Explain that they will have to sort the shapes according to different criteria, for example by color, material, shape, roughness, thickness, etc.
Make a list of all the different sorting criteria they could use. Then model the first example yourself.
After, spread the shapes on a table or play area. Guide the children to sort the objects into corresponding shape categories, placing circles with circles, squares with squares, and so on.
As a challenge and a creative twist for more able or older children, can they find shapes in their environment such as a round clock or a square pencil/case or a rectangular sharpener or eraser?
Ask them to gather all the shapes they can see around them and sort them into different categories.
8. Shape Jumping
Masking tape and a clear portion of the floor.
Make big shapes on the floor using masking tape. The children will be asked to jump from one shape to another one by one. Ensure you are teaching shapes by going through each one and making sure the children know the names.
Then ask the children to make a line and tell them which shape to jump on until they get to the other side. Alternatively, ask them to walk around the sides of a particular shape (on the masking tape) and ask them to count how many sides it has. Can they count the corners?
Learning Through Play
Children always learn best through play, and exploring shapes is no exception. When children manipulate shape puzzles, build with blocks, or create shape collages, they develop spatial awareness, problem-solving skills, and fine motor control. Playful shape activities encourage them to explore the attributes of shapes, compare and classify them, and understand their real-world applications. So let them learn shapes through play! Try these shape activities for preschoolers below:
9. Shape Sensory Bin
Sensory bins are amazing for preschool children . They usually can’t get enough!
Prepare a sensory bin by filling it with a base material like colored rice, sensory beads or pasta.
Add a variety of objects and materials that represent different shapes, such as foam or wooden shapes, plastic shape molds, or shape-themed toys. Introduce the shape sensory bin to the children, explaining that they will be exploring shapes through sensory play.
Sensory Exploration
Encourage the children to use their hands to feel and manipulate the shapes in the bin.
Let them sort the shapes, identify and name them, and describe their characteristics (e.g. sides, corners).
Shape Search
Hide specific shapes within the sensory bin.
Guide the children to search for and identify the hidden shapes.
Encourage imaginative play by letting the children create scenes or stories using the shape objects in the sensory bin.
Teach children the habit of tidying up the shape objects and returning them to the sensory bin.
10. Shape Scavenger Hunt
Begin by explaining the concept of a shape scavenger hunt to the children. Give them each a list of shapes to find and define the boundaries, whether it’s the walls of the classroom, the library or the garden. Explain that when they find a shape on their list, they have to bring it back to you, or collect it in a container.
Divide the children into small teams or pairs, ensuring each group has a list of shapes to find. Encourage the children to search the designated area for objects that match the shapes on their list.
Have each team share their findings and discuss the shapes they found. Celebrate their accomplishments and reinforce their shape recognition skills.
As an extra treat, offer small prizes or certificates to encourage engagement and participation.
11. Shape Detectives (I-spy)
Children have to spot the shapes which are mixed in with many different other objects.
Tell the children they do not move around the room. Put many small toys and objects in front of them. Tell them that they have to spot the shapes and take turns to pick them out of the pile of toys. They have to name the shape, pick it up and say its color and properties.
This can be a timed activity, as children have to give their maximum focus for a limited time period.
12. Shape Hunt in Nature
Shape Hunt is similar to the scavenger hunt, but the twist is the location. Ask children to find the shapes you have previously hidden in a forest, park, or school playground.
Make the boundaries very clear, and ask the children to collect the shapes they find.
Come together at the end to talk about the shapes they have found.
In conclusion, engaging preschool children in shapes activities offers a multitude of benefits. These activities promote shape recognition, spatial awareness, fine motor skills , creativity, and cognitive development. By incorporating playful and hands-on experiences, we can nurture their curiosity, ignite their imagination, and lay a strong foundation for their ongoing learning journey.
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Home • Toddler • Play And Activities
17 Creative Shape Activities For Toddlers To Do At Home
Exciting ideas to keep them engaged and entertained.
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Image: Shutterstock
Rectangle. Triangle. Circle. Hexagon. Cylinder. Cube. Introducing shape activities for toddlers is a fun way to teach them about various structures. Almost everything in our environment has a shape. Shapes are used to define and identify an object. Therefore, kids need to learn shapes from their early childhood education.
Shape recognition is an important aspect of a child’s primary schooling as it broadens their imagination to develop problem-solving skills. And it is ideally taught between the ages of two and three. We have compiled a list of fun shape activities for preschoolers that your child may enjoy in this post.
17 Best Shape Activities For Toddlers
1. shape treasure hunt.
Exploration of the unknown can be such a joy! With this treasure hunt activity, your toddler will enjoy discovering and learning about new shapes.
You will need:
- Several sheets of colored paper
- A large plastic container
- Wheat flour
- Cut the colored paper into different patterns such as a triangle, circle, square, etc. Cut as many shapes as you need.
- Fill the plastic container/box by stacking them with wheat flour. Place the paper cutouts in the flour and mix them all.
- Now ask your toddler to find the shapes hidden in the flour. Every time he finds a shape, call the shape name out loud so that he learns it.
- Once he is adept at remembering the names, you can ask him to search only for specific shapes.
2. Shape stencils
Tracing is an easy way to acquaint the toddlers with shapes and providing a hands-on experience.
- Thick cardboard
- Water paints
- Sketch pens
- Chart paper
- Cut the cardboard into smaller rectangular pieces. Carve out the shape at the center of the cardboard to make a stencil. Make multiple cardboard cutouts with a shape each on a cardboard piece.
- Lay the chart paper on the table or floor. Give the cardboard stencils to the toddlers and let them trace the shapes on a chart paper.
- Let the child trace the shapes on different portions of the same chart paper. Once the shapes have been traced, label each shape and say it aloud.
3. Shape matching
A simple yet engaging shape activity for preschoolers that helps them learn and remember .
- Colored papers
- Cut out different shapes from colored papers and shuffle them.
- On another chart or colored paper, draw the shapes using crayons.
- Ask the toddler to match a shape cutout with its corresponding shape drawing on the chart.
- When the toddler gets it right, pen the name of the shape on the colored paper.
4. Ice cream stick shapes
Image: bitty_bee_play_ideas /Instagram
So far, it was about identifying and naming shapes. This one is about making shapes using colorful ice cream sticks!
- Wooden ice cream sticks
- Watercolors
- Paint the ice cream sticks in colors that your toddler likes. You can use multiple colors on one stick to make things vivid. Once painted, leave the sticks to dry.
- Sit on the floor with the colorful sticks. Place them together to make different shapes like triangle, rectangle, hexagon, etc.
- Instruct your toddler to replicate and practice repetition of making the shape through observation.
- Once the toddler remembers the names of the shapes, you can tell him a name, and he can make the shape on his own while you supervise.
5. Shape sorting household objects
Why not turn the entire house into a giant play area? This activity will tell you how.
- Multi-colored sticky notes
- Draw the shape and write its name on a sticky note of one color. For example, red sticky notes will have a rectangle drawn on them, while yellow will have a circle, and so on.
- Now ask the kid to look for household objects with shapes mentioned on the sticky notes.
- Once you find an object, say a rectangular table, the toddler sticks the red sticky note on it. Continue pasting notes on all objects at home depending on the shape.
- Once you are done, take a tour of the house with the toddler and ask him to say the name of the shapes of each household item.
6. Stepping on shapes
Image: pitfire_gingerbaby /Instagram
A joyful shape-themed preschool activity that is ideal for groups.
- Make large illustrations of various shapes on the chart paper. Cut out each figure.
- Scatter the drawings on the floor, not too far away from each other.
- Let the toddler stand next to the first shape. Stand a distance and call out the name of a shape. The toddler takes a step towards the shape on the floor. You then call out another shape, and the toddler takes a step towards it.
- Continue that until the child steps on all the shapes. You can also play the activity with a group of toddlers . The fastest to cover all the shapes is the winner.
7. Caterpillar shapes
This activity teaches about shapes and colors at the same time.
- Colored paper
- Cut the colored paper into shapes such as a circle, rectangle, etc. Pick different colors for different shapes and cut them in large and small sizes.
- Glue the larger shapes one after the other on a chart paper, to depict a caterpillar. You can use sketch pens to draw the face of the caterpillar at the end.
- Shuffle the tiny shapes. Ask the toddler to stick the shapes to its corresponding larger shape within the caterpillar’s body.
- Continue until all the shapes are over. This activity will help toddlers learn names of shapes and colors .
8. Match the eggshells
This activity helps toddlers remember how a shape appears thus making it an ideal activity for younger toddlers who are still learning how shapes look.
- Draw an oval shape, resembling an egg, on the chart. Make zigzag lines at the center of the egg, indicating a cracked eggshell.
- Let the toddler color the illustration of the egg. Once done, cut along the zigzag line to separate the eggs into distinct sections
- Draw a shape on each half of the egg. Shuffle them all together and give it to the toddler.
- The toddler places the one end of the shell on the table and searches for the corresponding shell in the pile of cutouts. So if the toddler just placed an eggshell with a circle drawn on it, then he will search for the other half that also has a circle drawn on it.
- The toddler searches and matches the two corresponding egg shells to complete the egg.
9. Clay shapes
A simple yet excellent sensory activity to identify, play with, and remember shapes.
- Plastic cut outs/stencils of various shapes
- Non-toxic clay for kids
- Roll the clay and flatten it out.
- Take the shape stencils and cut out a shape each from the clay molding.
- Place the clay shapes on chart paper. Let the toddler feel tactile with each of them and remember the shape and the number of sides.
10. Shapes of block
Use your toddler’s playing blocks to help him teach about making different shapes.
- Multiple sets of playing blocks
- Using a sketch pen, draw large shapes on chart paper.
- Ask the toddler take the blocks and match them with the shape, in alignment with its size, on the chart.
- Let him do the same for other shapes as well.
- This activity helps establish the basic knowledge of shapes and sizes, especially among younger toddlers .
An anonymous mother narrates her own experience of engaging her toddler in a shape activity for the first time in her blog. She uses painter’s tape to make shapes like squares, rectangles, and triangles on the floor and gives her son, J, bean bags in different colors. She writes, “I then gave J specific directions, ‘Toss the green beanbag into the square!’ He enjoyed trying to toss them inside the shapes. I requested a specific color bean bag to reinforce colors. He’s pretty good at most of his colors which kept this activity focused more on the shapes ( i ).”
11. Find shapes in a book
Shapes are everywhere, even in that storybook your toddler reads.
- An illustrated children’s storybook
- Select a storybook with several illustrations, preferably one that your toddler is familiar with.
- Take a sketch pen or pencil, sit with your toddler, and highlight as many shapes as you can in the book. For instance, when you see an illustration of the sun, you can tell it is a circle and write it down next to it.
- Once you cover all the shapes in the book, you can go back start all over again to revise. Only this time, have the toddler say out what shape it is.
12. Sponge painting
Painting with a sponge is extra fun for toddlers and can be used to teach them shapes.
- A large block of sponge
- A cutting tool
- Colour palette
- Large chart paper
- Cut the large block of sponge into three-dimensional shapes using scissors or a knife. This has to be done by the adult and not the toddler.
- Spread a plastic sheet on the floor and place the chart on that, to prevent messing the floor. Add the watercolors to the palette.
- Let the toddler dip the sponge in the watercolor and make an impression on the chart paper.
- Every time the toddler makes a shape impression, tell him what shape it is.
- You can also get the toddler to outline that shape using a sketch pen, for better understanding,
13. Shape memory game
Image: momiciouscircle /Instagram
This is a memory game that aims to help the toddler memorize shapes.
- Cut the chart paper into small squared cards of 15cm.
- Draw an identical shape on two cards, to make pairs.
- Place the cards in an array of rows and columns, with the illustrated side facing down.
- The toddler turns two random cards and observes the shape. He repeats the same with other cards till he forms pairs of the corresponding card by remembering its location.
14. Trace the shape
Image: Instagram
You can buy a ready-to-trace book or do it yourself at home.
- Butter paper
- Plain paper
- Black sketch pen
- Draw different shapes, of varying sizes, on the plain paper.
- Place the butter paper on top of the plain paper and give it to the toddler.
- The toddler then traces the shape on the butter paper using the pencil.
15. Sort shape by design
This is a more advanced activity that is best suited for older toddlers who gain considerable mastery on recollecting shapes.
- 2-3 plastic bowls
- Plastic shape stencils or shaped blocks
- Sticky notes
- Shuffle the plastic stencils together in a large bowl.
- Label the plastic bowls each with illustrations of shapes like a circle, square, rectangle, etc. on a sticky note.
- Now the toddler is supposed to pick a shape and put it in the right bowl. For example, if he picks a square he should put it in the bowl with the sticky note featuring a square on it.
- Continue sorting the shapes as per their design to finish the game.
16. Sticker shapes
This activity is simple to arrange and suitable for an entire class or a small group of children at home. It emphasizes the significance of shape identification, a crucial learning aspect for toddlers and preschoolers.
- Dot stickers
- Construction paper
- Draw shapes on construction paper and affix them to the walls.
- Initiate a discussion about shapes and their distinctive attributes with the children.
- Encourage them to trace the outlined shapes on the construction paper with the dot stickers.
17. Sand shapes
Engage your little ones in a delightful sand-shaped activity designed for sensory exploration.
- Assorted shape molds (circles, squares, triangles)
- Shallow container or sandbox
- Fill a shallow container or sandbox with play sand, creating a designated play area for the activity.
- Introduce various shape molds to the toddlers, emphasizing shapes like circles, squares, and triangles.
- Let the toddlers explore the sand with their hands, encouraging them to feel its texture.
- Demonstrate how to use the shape molds by pressing them into the sand to create distinct shapes.
- Allow the toddlers to experiment with the molds independently, fostering creativity and sensory development.
Tips For Shape Activities For Toddlers
- Scissors should be used by an adult: All activities that involve the use of sharp objects such as scissors or a knife should be handled only by an adult and not the toddler.
- Let toddlers learn one shape at a time: So many shapes, so little playtime! Let that not be the case. Learning one shape for a few days is the best way to get it right forever. Once your preschooler is thorough with one shape, you can move on to the next. But if your child is not overwhelmed by the information and is comfortable learning about multiple things at a time, you can introduce more than one shape at a time.
- Refer daily objects by their shape: You can look for a shape anytime, anywhere. While on a walk or car trips, play the shape guessing game by pointing at random everyday objects like the street light, zebra crossing or a car. It makes shape-learning more engrossing.
- Have a refresher once in a while: Once your child is adept at remembering the shapes, play games that help them revise their knowledge using their memory and coordination.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. Why is it important for toddlers to learn shapes?
Complex shapes and puzzles are made by combining different basic shapes. Learning shapes at a young age builds a solid foundation of visual and mental development. It also increases a child’s understanding of mathematical concepts and spatial awareness.
2. How many shapes should a two-year-old know?
From an educational point of view, a two or three-year-old should be able to identify the basic shapes, including circles, triangles, squares, and rectangles. Once they recognize them, they can move forward and learn the advanced shapes with more sides or a combination of the basic ones.
3. What are some shape-sorting toys for my toddlers?
Some popular shape-sorting toys for toddlers include sorting cubes with cutouts of different shapes, puzzles, stacking toys of different shapes and sizes, and boxes and blocks to match their correct shapes and dimensions.
4. What are some educational benefits of shape activities for toddlers?
Shape activities for toddlers provide numerous educational benefits in the form of cognitive development as they promote logical thinking and problem-solving skills, enhance spatial awareness, improve fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination, and foster creativity and imaginative thinking.
5. What are the benefits of doing shape activities with my toddler?
Participating in shape activities with your toddler creates an opportunity for quality bonding time. It allows you to engage with your child, share experiences, and communicate with them. This interaction fosters a strong parent-child relationship and helps your toddler feel loved and supported. Besides, it aids them in various developmental skills like language acquisition, creativity, confidence building, and mathematics concepts, improves concentration, and enhances problem-solving skills.
Shapes define almost everything around us, making it important for children to learn to identify shapes from an early age. Tracing out various shapes from colorful papers, using shape stencils, and building shapes from ice cream sticks, sponges, or clay can be fun shape activities for toddlers. In addition, you may use books with illustrations, shape blocks, or even household items to teach shapes to your infant and sharpen their motor skills. Finally, you can help your child learn faster by referring to daily objects by shapes and playing memory refresher games.
Infographic: Tips For Shape Activities For Toddlers
Illustration: Momjunction Design Team
Get high-quality PDF version by clicking below.
Key Pointers
- Shape activities are an effective way to teach toddlers about different shapes.
- Teaching shape recognition to children between the ages of two to three is crucial for their primary school education.
- Toddlers can learn shape recognition through various shape activities such as stepping on shapes, ice cream stick forms, shape stencils, shape matching, shape treasure hunts, and more.
- These shape activities help toddlers recognize, name, and make shapes.
- Simple materials like colored paper, cardboard, crayons, and everyday items found in households can be used to create shapes for these activities.
Watch this video to explore 9 fun ways to learn shapes with our kids! Join us for some fun learning activities with shapes that will keep your little ones engaged and entertained.
Personal Experience: Sources
i. Fun and Engaging Activities for Toddlers; https://engagingtoddleractivities.wordpress.com/2010/02/22/tape-shapes/
- The Importance of Shape and Space in the Early Years; https://nrich.maths.org/14544
- Fact-checker
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70+ Shape and Color Activities for Toddlers Preschool and Kindergarten
ACTIVITIES , ART , DIY Activities for kids , FINE MOTOR PLAY , Hands-On Learning , INDOOR PLAY , Kids Activity Tips , KINDERGARTEN , Play to Learn Activities , PreK , PRESCHOOL , Shape Activities for Kids , TODDLER , Toddlers , TOP ACTIVITIES We use affiliate links and may earn commission from purchases made through those links.
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Shape and color activities for toddlers and for kids are one of my absolute favorite activities to bring forth!
They are just so much fun and filled with learning fun, learning about new colors each day can be really fun, you can literally create shapes out of colored paper and call it a day , neat, right , related: looking for fine motor skills activities these are our favorite, i wanted to include a big list for you to go by if you ever were interested in the best way to bring forth fun and engaging colorful activities that also may incorporate shape learning as well , of course, some of these activities will only be about primary colors, color mixing, different colors and others will only be about shapes but some will definitely include both simultaneously. , shapes and color recognition are a wonderful lesson that can even be included in different themes throughout the year. , for example, around valentines day we love to learn about the colors red, pink, white and talk about the shape of a heart. , we may even include a bit of sensory play to create a fun color activity that is hands-on for young children. , add some colorful pom poms into sensory bottles or a sensory bin to create a fun activity for your preschool classroom., on christmas day , instead of working on all the colors of the rainbow, we like to include the colors green, red and gold and talk about the star shape , easy activities that incorporate creative ways to go about different seasons and themed activities make learning about color objects a lot of fun. , there are many fun ways to get creative with learning about shapes and colors throughout the different seasons of the year. , get this toddlers colors printable free with preschool themes, (learn more), i’ll be sharing below color and shape ideas in the following order: , color activities for toddlers, preschool color activities, color activities for kindergarten, shape activities for toddlers, preschool shape activities, shape activities for kindergarten , and, you will see some shape activities in the color category – colorful shapes. , you may also see color activities in the shapes category – shapes and colors. , matching color activities and more (tap below), how do you make learning colors fun , learning colors doesn’t have to be done with only a simple worksheet. , you can make color learning fun with simple play to learn activities , the basic question asked often is, “how to teach a two year old colors”, there are two learning colors games for toddlers i want to talk about right now: , color learning for kids can look something like filling a bin up with a small amount of water and adding a bit of food coloring into it. , a toddler learning colors can play with the water and you can talk about that color you added in. , not only is the toddler learning about the colors, they are playing while learning., kids painting games are also a fun way to learn about colors. , painting games for kids can look like painting your hand in the color green and then stamping it onto a paper. , this is a very simple way on how to teach colors to little ones because it is fun, easy and effective. , when do toddlers learn colors , toddlers are learning about the world around them every single day. , colors are everywhere and most children are able to see them and so if you point at something and show them the colors they will absorb that knowledge and in turn grow learning what you are teaching them 🙂 , every child is different but toddlers are learning everyday and colors is one of those categories they are learning about. 🙂 , learn about colors (and shapes) with the colorful object below : , color activities for preschoolers, here are some fun ideas we have tried that incorporated preschool color activities: , rainbow fish craft, leak proof bag color matching activity, paper plate jellyfish , ice cream craft with cotton pads, a lot of these toddler colors game activities were so much fun and not only about colors. they were playing, creating and learning as well , related: for even more simple color activities, check out these awesome sensory activities, how do i teach my 5 year old colors , color activities for kindergarten can be easily brought forth with a few manipulatives. here are some of our past ideas that we have done that helped my littles learn about colors: , kindergarten busy book, color matching activity , diy sidewalk chalk paint, kindergarteners are also learning to write. , they can practice writing the color names in the same color of that color name. , how do we celebrate colour day , i didn’t even know color day was a thing 😀 , what a fun way to incorporate a rainbow of colors on a specific day of the year , if you are wanting to celebrate color day, a great way to bring forth learning colours for kids is to set up easy and effective activities to learn colors. , learning the colours of the different flags of the world, or games on colours such as board games or interactive games are other fun ways to learn about colors in a group setting. , learning color for kids can be fun , with the right direction and guidance, you will be learning colors in a fun way , what color should i teach first , there is no right or wrong way to teach colors. , a fun way to teach colors is by seasons. , for example, next time that it is st. patrick’s day, you may want to bring forth fun activities that involve the holiday. , the colors green and gold come to mind and this can be a wonderful time to teach about green and gold. , sticker sorting is a great opportunity to learn the names of the colors and rainbow colors on stickers for the preschool years, add a sheet of paper next to the sticker activity to write out the color name and practice learning colors. , related: looking for a fun toddler color sort printable this one is so much fun , how do i learn colors , i will be sharing a list below of different methods on how you can teach and/or learn colors , learning colors activities can be fun and doesn’t have to be boring , with a little help and direction from this post, you will be learning and teaching about colours in a fun way in no time , some ideas on color games are: , use colorful lego pieces to learn about the concept of colors, use this brown bear free booklet to learn about colors, point to the different colors in children’s books, create a fun game of pointing to the different color at the grocery store, point to all of the yellow cars one day and then on a different day point to a different colored car., use ice cube trays to create colorful ice cubes held on by popsicle sticks., related: looking for shape worksheets for kindergarten check out our kindergarten busy book , how do you introduce shapes to preschoolers , learning about shapes is so much fun , some ideas on how you can teach about shapes are: , by introducing fun hands on activities , matching shapes activities, shape art lesson, kids shapes learning by bringing forth a sensory bin, games of shapes or games with shapes, shapes in nature lesson plan, shape books for preschool, group activities for preschoolers about learning shapes, making shapes with pipe cleaners, these are just some of many ways you can teach about shapes to preschoolers 🙂 , how do preschoolers teach colors and shapes , preschoolers can learn about colors and shapes by learning through a fun shapes to learn activity. , for example: we tried this shape activity that was oodles of fun , you only need two items: a poster board and construction paper. , not only did my preschooler learn about shapes, but she also learned about colors too , what are good activities for preschoolers , a question i see often is, “how to introduce shapes to preschoolers”, there are many fun ways you can teach about shapes to preschoolers. , i like to keep it simple like our construction paper poster board shape matching activity , if you are interested in a preschool busy book, our busy book includes a shape matching page that will also teach your little about shapes in a fun way , it is a wonderful busy book that can be taken on the go and it is one of our most popular items. , check out our preschool activity binder , how do you introduce square shapes to preschoolers , you can bring forth a fun set of shape crafts for preschool. , for example, cut out different square shapes from construction paper and talk about the different square sizes and the square shape , elaborate on how the square has four sides. , another fun way to talk about the square shape is to try stick shapes. , grab four popsicle sticks and create a square using four craft sticks , what other fun shape ideas can you think of incorporating to learn about the square shape , what shapes should preschoolers know , i like to bring forth the four basic shapes first: , these are the first four that we learn in our home and then we work on any other shapes once these have been mastered. , what about you is there a specific set of shapes you like to go by first leave me a comment below letting me know , related: looking for toddlers lesson plans, check out our toddler busy book , 70+ shape activities for toddlers, preschool and kindergarten, color activities for toddlers , fine motor color sorting activity – active littles, color matching caterpillar – fantastic fun and learning, pom pom color tray – busy toddler, paper roll color match activity – busy toddler, heart color hunt – toddler approved , learning colors with rainbow bears – simple fun for kids, gross motor color game – simple fun for kids, colors busy bag – the chaos and the clutter, color matching lid drop toddler activity – raising dragons, easy diy color activity – active littles, rainbow rice diy – active littles, water play color activity – active littles, monster color match activity – active littles, color activities for preschool , squishy bag color activity + free printable – active littles, easy color matching fish activity – active littles, simple feather color matching activity – active littles, color sorting sensory bin – the resourceful mama, colorful pre-writing activity – days with grey, an easy way to get preschoolers to learn colors – coffee cups and crayons, paint chip color matching – play teach repeat, muffin tin color sort – happy toddler playtime, color play on mirror – little bins for little hands, toilet paper crayons – the best ideas for kids , color and texture sensory bag – active littles, color match ice cream cone – active littles, color activities for kindergarten , pumpkin seed art – fun a day , duplo color match – happy tot shelf, color hunt – raising dragons, playful way to learn about colors – little pine learners, watercolor painted seashells – hello wonderful , e xploring colors with baking soda and water – buggy and buddy, color matching activity – active littles, color match leak proof bag – active littles, pipe cleaner color matching activity – active littles, teaching colors printable – active littles, ice cream color activity – active littles, gold playdough using watercolors – active 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puzzles – rhythms of play, sticky tape shapes – happy toddler playtime, diy shape threading fine motor activity – active littles, shape matching printable freebie – active littles, create birds with shapes – fantastic fun and learning, grape shapes activity – coffee cups and crayons, shape rocks – fun a day, mystery shapes build – days with grey, shape painting – messy little monsters, sand shapes – gift of curiosity, geometric shapes math activity – little bins for little hands, shapes memory game – hello wonderful , shape necklace – buggy and buddy , straw shapes – raising dragons, floating shape dry erase marker experiment – active littles, related products, looking for free printables and activities.
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April 26, 2023 at 9:00 am
I really loved the article. It provides a useful resource for parents and teachers who are looking for creative and effective ways to teach young children about colors and shapes.
May 1, 2023 at 8:45 pm
Awe, thank you so much!
August 2, 2023 at 10:47 am
Absolutely loving these patterns and color activities! Not only is it fun and entertaining, but it is also incredibly educational for toddlers and preschoolers. The variety of ideas you have shared is fantastic and the step-by-step instructions make it easy for parents and teachers to implement.
August 30, 2023 at 4:16 pm
Yay! So happy you do 🙂
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Easy Color and Shape Activities for Toddlers!
January 19, 2024 by Sarah Leave a Comment
Playing with colors and shapes are wonderful activities for toddlers! As you play with these things, you naturally introduce your child to new language and build their vocabulary as you have fun together.
The Color and Shape-themed activities are ideal for young children between 18 months and 2 1/2 years old. There are so many ideas for strengthening those little hands and developing fine motor skills, as well as great opportunities for building language.
As you go through these activities with your little one, you might choose to focus on one specific area of development. Young toddlers are actively and rapidly developing language. As you play with your toddler, encourage that chatter! Help your little one lengthen his or her sentences by adding on. For example, your toddler might point to a pompom and say, “red!” You can reply by saying, “Yes! A red pompom is on the table!” Or perhaps your toddler says, “I want blue!” You can reply by saying, “I understand. You would like to have a turn filling the blue block up with pompoms.”
It is amazing the power that play holds! All of the skills our toddlers need to develop can happen so naturally through daily play.
When we are playing with colors and shapes with toddlers, it is important to remember that our goal is not memorization. We don’t need our little ones to memorize how many sides a square has or what color you get when you mix red and blue. We want our little ones to play with these ideas and introduce these big concepts so that when they learn about them in detail down the road, they have a knowledge base to build on.
That is what my Playful Days Toddler Program is all about! We build vocabulary and build a strong knowledge base by playing with all seven themes—one of which is Shapes and Colors! Not only will this provide your little one with a beautiful foundation for learning, but it will provide just the right amount of structure to those long days at home with wee ones, and will build beautiful memories as well.
The activities below are great examples of the daily activities you will find in my Playful Days Toddler Program!
You can read all about my Playful Days Toddler Program right here: https://www.howweelearn.com/playfuldays/
And just before we dive into these color and shape activities for toddlers, would you like a fun printable to enjoy together? This one is totally free and a wonderful, learning-filled activity for you to enjoy with your toddler. You can grab it right here:
Color and Shape Activities for Toddlers
These activities are great examples of similar activities that can be found in my Playful Days Toddler Program.
Rainbow Scavenger Hunt – Head out on an adventure and build a rainbow in your house! Begin by hunting for one color of the rainbow, and build that rainbow one arc at a time.
Rainbow Fine Motor Sensory Bin – This is a beautiful sensory bin and great for building fine motor skills! Little ones can sort by color, or they could practice threading the beads onto pipe cleaners making beautiful bracelets.
Color Mixing – Let your toddler experience the magic of color mixing with his own hands! This messy and colorful art exploration is so much fun and will really wow your little one.
Shape Finders by Apples to Applique – These little finders are such a fun prop for toddlers to use as they walk around trying to spy various shapes! You could easily make these out of some cardboard.
Touch and Feel Shapes by Teach Me Mommy – Using pipecleaners to make these shape cards is such a fun idea to add in some sensory learning while exploring shapes. Toddlers will be able to feel the difference between a curved line compared to a straight line, which brings this learning to a whole new level.
Grow a Rainbow by MomBrite – Using markers and a paper towel you can, your toddler can grow a rainbow together! This magical moment will be treasured for a long while.
Sticker Sort by Busy Toddler – Grab some pieces of construction paper and some stickers of matching colors and get to sorting! Toddlers love this simple activity.
Mega Block Sort by Happy Toddler Playtime – This is another fun way to play with colors with your toddler. Turn some Mega Blocks upside down and add pompoms!
There you have it! Fun and easy color and shape activities to enjoy with your toddler. And don’t forget, if you like these activities, you are going to LOVE my Playful Days Toddler Program . One playful activity a day, perfect for breaking up that long day at home with the littles!
Find out more about Playful Days right here: https://www.howweelearn.com/playfuldays/
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Learning Shapes for Preschoolers – Making it Fun
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It can be hard to know how to best help your preschooler learn shapes. There are so many different ways to go about it, and some methods work better for certain children than others. Learning shapes for preschoolers can be fun too! Here are some tips on how to make learning shapes an enjoyable experience for little ones.
Why is learning about shapes important for preschoolers?
Shapes are all around us! Preschoolers can start learning about shapes by looking for them in their everyday surroundings. Circles can be found in the wheels of a car, in a friend's glasses, and in the sun up in the sky. Triangles can be seen in slices of pizza, on roofs of houses, and in sails on boats. squares can be found in tiles on the floor, in windows of buildings, and on stop signs.
As preschoolers learn to identify these shapes in their environment, they begin to develop an understanding of geometry. Furthermore, learning about shapes can also help preschoolers to develop important fine motor skills. For example, when coloring or drawing, preschoolers can practice tracing the outlines of different shapes. Ultimately, learning about shapes is a valuable early step in preparing children for future learning in mathematics and other sciences.
How can you help preschoolers with learning shapes?
There are many different ways that parents can help their preschoolers learn shapes. One way is to provide opportunities for exploration and discovery. For example, when grocery shopping with your child, point out the different shapes of fruits and vegetables. Ask your child to find circles, squares, and triangles in the environment.
Another way to help children learn shapes is through simple activities like coloring or playing games. There are many printable coloring pages available online that focus on teaching shapes. And there are also a variety of shape-based board games that can be enjoyed by the whole family.
By following these tips, parents can help their preschoolers learn about shapes in a fun and engaging way. In no time, children will be identifying shapes all around them!
Tips on how to make learning shapes fun
Learning shapes is an important foundation for early learning success. Kids who know their shapes have an easier time learning to read and do math. And, learning shapes can be fun! Here are a few tips to help your preschooler have a blast while learning their shapes:
Start with the basics.
Help your child learn the names of basic shapes like circle, square, triangle, and rectangle. As they become more familiar with the shapes, you can start teaching them more complex shapes like oval and diamond.
Check out Basic Shapes for Beginners – A hands-on approach to pre-writing strokes for preschoolers. Designed for ages 2-5 to be completed in 6 weeks. Includes resource list, items needed, organized by week, and printables for designated activities.
Make it a game when learning shapes for preschoolers.
Turn learning shapes into a game by hiding objects around the house and seeing if your child can identify them by their shape. You can also try drawing different shapes in the sand or dirt outside. See if your child can find and copy the shapes.
Use everyday objects.
Preschoolers learn best by exploring their environment. Use everyday objects to teach shapes like shoelaces, or ribbons. Show your child how to make a square or a triangle with these objects. By using familiar items, learning shapes become more interesting and easier for kids to remember.
Learning Shapes for Preschoolers – Play Games
One of the best ways for preschoolers to learn shapes is through play. There are a variety of games that can help kids to identify and remember different shapes.
One simple game is to cut out different shapes from construction paper and then have the child match them up.
Another option is to use a die to create a shape-based scavenger hunt. For instance, the child rolls the die and then has to find an object in the room that is that shape.
You can also use everyday objects to help teach shapes. For example, you can ask the child to find two things that are rectangular or three things that are triangular. By incorporating learning into play, kids will have fun while they're learning important early math concepts.
Geometric Shape Art Project to Try
If you have some recycled toilet paper rolls, try this geometric shape art project to help with learning shapes for preschoolers.
Materials Needed for the Geometric Shape Art Project:
- recycled toilet paper rolls
- piece of cardboard (you can use a recycled cereal box)
If you do not want to take out the paint, you can use markers for this activity.
Preparation:
- Cut the recycled toilet paper rolls into 1/2″ strips.
- Gently shape them into circles, squares, triangles, and whatever other shapes you wish.
- Glue them onto the piece of cardboard and let it dry.
- For older preschoolers or kindergarteners, make one small piece of cardboard with each shape on it. Color code it for the child.
How to Complete the Geometric Shape Art Project
- Put the activity on the table for the child.
- Show them how to color inside each of the shapes. Use language to reinforce the shapes as you offer the directions – color the squares blue, etc.
- The child can match the color code if you have provided it.
- Let it dry.
More Activities to Do with the Geometric Shape Art Project to Help With Learning Shapes for Preschoolers
After you let the masterpiece dry completely, you can use the art project for more multisensory activities to help with learning shapes for preschoolers. For example:
- use it with a sensory bin and fill the shapes up with dried beans, colored rice, etc.
- trace inside or outside the shapes for pre-writing practice.
- pull off small balls of playdough using the thumb and index finger. Push the small amounts of playdough inside the cardboard shapes.
- draw numbers 1, 2, or 3 inside of the shapes. Place pom poms on the table. The child can use tweezers or their fingers to pick up the correct number of pom poms to place inside the shape.
Learning Shapes for Preschoolers – A Multisensory Experience
Although worksheets or flashcards with shapes on them play a role when learning shapes for preschoolers, remember that there are other ways for children to learn. A multisensory experience is the best way for young children to learn and remember new information. By providing opportunities for your child to see, touch, feel, listen to, and even taste shapes, you can help them develop a strong foundation in geometry that will serve them well throughout their schooling years.
This blog post was contributed from YourTherapySource.com .
Heather Greutman, COTA
Heather Greutman is a Certified Occupational Therapy Assistant with experience in school-based OT services for preschool through high school. She uses her background to share child development tips, tools, and strategies for parents, educators, and therapists. She is the author of many ebooks including The Basics of Fine Motor Skills, and Basics of Pre-Writing Skills, and co-author of Sensory Processing Explained: A Handbook for Parents and Educators.
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Hands On As We Grow®
Hands on kids activities for hands on moms. Focusing on kids activities perfect for toddlers and preschoolers.
15 At-Home Learning Activities for Toddlers
Literacy & ABCs Math & 123s Toddlers ABCs Colors Letters Numbers Resources Shapes 11 Comments
Working with your toddler on “school” type work covers the basics. Like, the basic basics: colors, numbers, letters, and shapes.
The focus should really be on play, and not on testing or desk work.
Some basic things an older toddler will start to learn are:
- Differentiating colors
- Differentiating shapes
- Recognizing letters
- Recognizing numbers
I’ve collected a few activities to get your wheels turning on how to help a toddler start to recognize these.
15 At-Home Activities for Toddlers to Learn
Download the FREE Week of Toddler Activities Here!
Color & Shape Activities for Toddlers
Pairing up colors and shapes in learning activities can lead to endless possibilities! Which activity will you be trying first?
Find more 10 indoor toddler activities !
ABCs & 123s! More Learning for Toddlers
Working on letter and number recognition can be super fun, and really easy. Try out these learning activities for toddlers at home together!
Don’t forget to check out these other toddler resources!
- 50 Activities Just for your Toddler
- 30 Creative Toddler Craft & Art Projects
- 10 Indoor Activities for Toddlers
Does your toddler already have a good start at his ABCs and 123s? Check out these additional resources for more advanced activities:
- 40 Awesome Number Activities for Preschoolers
- 50 Incredible Alphabet Activities for Preschoolers
- 35 Name Activities for Preschoolers
I’ve been trying to brainstorm all the areas that toddlers are learning. Everything is a learning adventure for our little ones!
I’m curious about what else a toddler might enjoy (or need to) learn?
I’d love to hear what your toddler is learning with you!
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About Jamie Reimer
Jamie learned to be a hands on mom by creating activities, crafts and art projects for her three boys to do. Jamie needed the creative outlet that activities provided to get through the early years of parenting with a smile! Follow Jamie on Pinterest and Instagram !
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11 comments.
January 28, 2019 at 5:31 pm
Love these ideas of learning. I love playing lets match with different flash cards. we both get 4 cards each and pile the rest. we take turns turning one over if it matches the card we have we take it. we do this till all the cards are matched up. she doesn’t even realize she is learning her colors,numbers,abc Most importantly she is learning, taken turns, sharing and being a good sport.
Lee Orlian says
January 31, 2017 at 3:06 pm
This is super creative and I love it! How important it is to encourage our children to reinvent the way they play and and spark new ideas in their developing minds! Truly inspiring! Thank you for sharing!
Brenda says
October 21, 2016 at 1:57 pm
I like your site, I work with 1 year olds and sometimes I have trouble with ideas to do and make.
Isabell says
September 3, 2016 at 3:40 am
I am a Early Child-hood student with open polytechnic one of my tasks was to plan a play plan for a toddler at my kindergarten as part of my pactruim and work experience I was lost for ideas until I saw your site I have chosen three activities that I will share with a toddler and observe His reaction and how he will be able to learn from this with my help. Thank-you
cassidy says
August 12, 2015 at 11:14 pm
love all these amazing ideas!!!
September 22, 2014 at 3:11 am
I believe some one and a half year olds understand some simple opposites, such as On/off, up/down, sit/stand, in/out….. Just to name a few. When I get my little one year old niece Dressed I say shirt on, and when I take it off I say shirt off, same with her shoes. I think about Things I do on an everyday basis that can help her understand simple opposites.
Nikuita Burke says
June 7, 2014 at 9:20 am
I work in a daycare I need some idea on what to teach one year olds
Deborah says
February 5, 2013 at 12:39 pm
When my children were young, I ran an in-home day-care. One of the things that the children always loved was being involved in the food. I baked all the bread for the day-care children. They loved helping! They also liked having thier own little section of the garden. And starting plants in the window. Picking and eating what they grew was wonderful for them too. We also made snack time an activity; round and square crackers, raisins, grapes, carrot slices, banana slices, peanut butter, sunflowerseeds, just to mention a few. A little dab of peanut butter for glue and anything will stick to a cracker. Decorate like an ornament or faces and eat yummy. Sometimes you can get them to try new foods, just because it looked good on their cracker artwork. ;) Now I provide day-care for my grandson, can’t wait till he can eat peanut butter!
February 13, 2016 at 11:02 pm
What awesome ideas, and you sound like a wonderful grandma and person!
jode@mummymusingsandmayhem says
February 1, 2013 at 6:16 pm
Great collection of ideas…thanks for sharing!
Susanne@babyhuddle says
January 31, 2013 at 6:40 am
Some really fab ideas here, have shared- thank you! x
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15+ Learning Shapes for Toddlers Activities
Learning shapes isn’t just a fun activities for toddlers, it’s also the building blocks to math.
So dive into these learning shapes for toddlers activities and start the love and understanding of math early.
Be sure to check out our other fun family-friendly kid activities and crafts !
Shape Button Sort | School Time Snippets Sponge Stamped Triangle Collage | Buggy and Buddy Button Bingo: A Color & Shape Activity for Tots & Preschoolers | School Time Snippets Flower Shape Sort | School Time Snippets Guess the Shapes Activity & Scissors Practice | Artsy Momma Triangle Ship Craft and Shape Matching Game | I Heart Crafty Things Geometry for Kids: Finding Shapes at the Playground | Buggy and Buddy Circle Print Art | Craft Ideas for Kids FREE Shape Coloring Pages | 3 Dinosaurs Toddler Art with Shapes | In the Playroom Free Shape Playdough Mats | 3 Dinosaurs Gruffalo Themed Shape Animals | The Educator’s Spin On It Bubble Wrap Shape Printing | Multicraftingmummy Math Lesson: Finding Shapes and Patterns Everywhere! | Crafty Moms Share A Homemade Shape Stamp | mama. papa. bubba.
Ohhh..I have two family members who will be getting a link to this post today! Thank you!!
You’re more than welcome! Have fun 🙂
Thanks so much for hosting!
Thanks for inclyding our Bubble wrap Shape Printing!
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Posted on Last updated: April 25, 2021 By: Author Kim
Categories STEM and Learning Activities with Kids
Why Children Need To Learn Shapes and the Best Activities To Help
Why teach shapes? Learn why children need to learn shapes and the best activities to help. Plus printables!
Shapes are one of those things we work on with kids from a young age. We teach what a circle is, a triangle, a square. Colors, letters, numbers, shapes.
These are some of the first things we work on with children.
Colors are easy and fun to point out. Numbers and letters are building blocks for their entire future.
But why do we focus on shapes? Are they just easy?
There are actually some very concrete reasons for teaching toddlers and preschoolers shapes.
Here are 5 big reasons to teach preschoolers and toddlers shapes, plus some fun printables to color or use play-doh for sensory shape fun.
What's In This Post?
Same or Different
Categorization, problem solving and spatial relations, grab these printables for more shape practice, letter recognition, shape hunts, coloring and tracing, play-doh shapes, shape sticks, i want the freebies, bonus shape practice printables, why teach shapes.
Why do we teach shapes to our children?
It isn’t just because it is easy. Shapes are building blocks for several bigger concepts that children will use throughout their schooling and lives.
There are big reasons to start shape learning early. Here are some major concepts they work.
Basic shapes like circles, triangles, and squares are distinctly different from each other. This makes them great for practicing same and different.
Same and different is the start of really recognizing distinctive traits objects can have. It is also the first level of categorizing.
Are these two objects the same or different? This is the start of basic observation skills.
Once the basic same or different concept is down, children can move into more complicated categorization.
What makes a circle different from a square? This is detailed recognition of traits objects have.
An important skill is being able to find a common characteristic among different items. A great way to practice this is to send your child on a shape hunt.
How many circle objects can they find? How many squares? This shows them that shape is something that many different things can have in common.
Categorization is an important science skill.
Shapes are a great way to introduce problem-solving skills.
Take a shape sorter. Your child needs to determine which shape goes in which hole, and then they need to actually fit it in.
This works spatial relation skills as well. How do objects fit together? (As your children grow puzzles work the same sort of skill. How do you recognize what piece fits where?)
Anything that works problem-solving is helpful for children, and this sort of trait recognition is key for future science skills.
Math Skills
I feel math skills are an obvious area that gets worked when you teach your children shapes.
Geometry is in part the study of shapes. Having a basic understanding of them from a young age will make this math class a lot easier for kids.
Understanding the characteristics of shapes involves a lot of counting. How many sides does a shape have? This easily folds in number practice when you play with your toddlers and preschoolers.
Pattern recognition comes into play as well. Every time you add a side you get a new shape, this is a pattern. Being able to physically see the difference between a shape with three sides and one with five helps with number sense, a key to all math success.
( Learn more about number sense and why it matters here .)
This is one of the biggest reasons to work on shapes early. Shapes help with letter recognition.
Think about letters, they are very similar to shapes. The letter V is a triangle missing a side, and the letter O is just a circle.
Understanding what shapes are and that they have meaning starts to build literacy. Practicing distinguishing between a square and a triangle help kids recognize between different letters.
The same is true for reading numerals. Having children draw shapes and working on the lines and angles needed to draw a triangle or rectangle helps them later in life when they are learning to write their letters.
Ways to Learn and Practice Shapes
There are lots of ways to practice shapes. One of my favorite things about this topic is that you can make it more and more challenging as your child learns more and more.
You start with circles, triangles, and squares. Then there are pentagons, hexagons, heptagons, octagons, and more. (This is a great lesson in prefixes too.)
Even with just 4 sides, there are a variety of shapes to work on. Square versus rectangle. Trapezoids, diamonds, parallelograms.
And don’t forget hearts, stars, crescents, and more. There is just so much depth to this simple subject.
Here are some fun and easy ways to work on shapes with your children. Play is key with these.
I think we try to make teaching our children too hard sometimes. The simplest way to work on shapes is just to talk about them.
My mother-in-law calls the toddler years the years of two names. Everything you share with your children has two names. For example, you don’t just hand your child a cup you hand them the blue cup. Or we play with the red ball.
Whatever it is, we can naturally add descriptors that are teaching our children. Use shapes the same way. You can read the square book or play with the triangle magnet. You don’t need big explanations, especially with very young toddlers.
Just start using the vocabulary.
My kids love going on scavenger hunts. It doesn’t matter what we are looking for, they adore it.
So send your kids on a shape hunt!
I have my children gather up anything that is triangle shaped, or circles. It is easier to focus on one shape at a time with toddlers. Preschoolers can look for more than one shape at a time, adding in sorting practice along with the shape practice.
You don’t need anything special for this. Regular household items and kid toys come in all shapes. But if you want to make it more specific, try cutting shapes out of construction paper.
Low cost and easy cleanup.
Shape sorters are a staple for a reason. You can find them in every price range. (In fact, Ali and Sammy’s favorite shape sorter came from Walgreens for about $5.)
These sorters practice shape recognition, problem-solving skills, and spatial relations, all in one little toy.
You can even make your own. Grab some blocks or other key shapes and trace them onto a shoebox or other box. Then cut the shapes out and let your children sort!
Coloring books and shape workbooks are a wonderful way to work on shapes. Plus you get work on sitting still and focus skills.
Coloring is a childhood staple that is full of benefits. ( Learn all about the benefits of coloring here! )
While your child is coloring, talk about the shapes on the page just as you would talk about the colors they are using. Tracing books provide additional writing practice that will come in handy when they are older.
This is one of my favorite ways to work shapes. Sensory activities are stepping-stones for STEM skills in life, plus they help children really engage in what they are learning.
I created some shape printables for my children. You can laminate them and have your child fill the shapes in with Play-Doh. ( Or slime, if you have a slime loving child .)
I don’t have a laminator, as much as I want one. So instead of that I purchased a few clear plastic sleeves used for binders and put the printables in those.
Easy to put together and easy to clean up. Head to the bottom of this post to learn how to get these for free to use with your children!
A great shape activity you can use as a busy bag activity is shape sticks!
Learn how to make them all here: Shape sticks for Preschool and Toddlers
The short version is to group sticks to make shapes and write the number of sticks needed on each group. So write 3 on three sticks for a triangle, etc. This is a great way to build independent play skills while practicing shapes!
Shapes Everywhere
Shapes are another one of those seemingly simple topics that have big implications for children. And adults.
Think of all the symbols and signs we can recognize just by the shape, even without words. Octagons are stop signs. An upside down triangle is a warning. Hearts mean love and stars are usually a good thing.
Shapes are such an important first step towards literacy and math skills. Things like shapes seem so simple and basic, yet they are teaching our children more than we can imagine.
You can get these coloring pages and Play-Doh mats for your kids! These are available for download in my free printables section. You can gain access to all the free resources by signing up for the Team Cartwright mailing list. Once you sign up you will get an email with the printables password. This library contains all kinds of learning aids. The color by number pages, train learning activities, and my Lego coding worksheets. It also unlocks my twin tracking worksheets! Signing up also adds you to my email list, which you can, of course, unsubscribe from at any time.
Sign me up to join the team! This gives me access to the free printables and adds me to the Team Cartwright mailing list.
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Hands-on activities are amazing for learning about shapes. But worksheets can be helpful as well. These three free worksheets are great for shape practice.
Your child can practice tracing the shapes and then draw them in with the dots. Finally, practice scissor skills while you cut and paste the pictures with the proper shape. Easy and fun! (And don’t forget to let them color their shapes too.)
Get the worksheets!
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J. Ivy Boyter
Sunday 19th of August 2018
These are such great ideas for learning shapes! I particularly love the idea of the Playdoh Shapes, thank you
Saturday 18th of August 2018
I loved reading the benefits of teaching shapes, it's really not something we think about a whole lot. We just know they need to know their shapes. :-)
Krystal Miller
Monday 13th of August 2018
My daughter is 3 and knows her shapes. We had shape sorters around the house and just made a point to mention them along with colors, letters, etc.
Rebecca Hicks
I totally agree with everything you said! And I love the different activities you included on teaching shapes. They sound like fun, but also great ways to teach children all about different shapes.
I love these ideas! I will have to try some of them with my toddler. We do a lot of work with shapes and are now using them to learn patterns which has been fun.
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VIDEO
COMMENTS
Usually the square, triangle, circle. And then I usually sneak in an odd one here and there just to introduce it, like the octagon (my kids seem to catch on to that one quickly because of stop signs), oval and rectangles. How to Teach Shapes to Toddlers First comes recognizing the shapes and then labeling them.
Get My Powerful Free Perseverance Lesson Now! How Do You Make Learning Shapes Activities Simple and Fun for Toddlers? Make Learning Shapes Part of Your Everyday Life Pancakes - We love "pancake Saturdays". When we started working on shapes, I made pancakes into the shape we were focusing on.
1. Same or Different Are triangles and circles the same? Are these squares the same or different? Discriminating same vs different is a big deal for toddlers, and it helps them start to visually discriminate and learn the world around them. Kids start learning how to scan their environment and notice important differences.
1. This free 2D Shapes Clip Cards activity helps kids practice shape identification and builds fine motor skills. 2. With this Magazine Shape Hunt kids will learn shapes while also practicing cutting, gluing and sorting. 3. Learning Shapes with Rainbow Walks - Make these shape rocks and add them to play for a fun, engaging way to explore shapes.
1. Block Painting Blocks come in a variety of shapes. Circles, triangles, squares. Any picture can be broken down into these basic shapes. If your little ones are too young to make an actual picture, don't worry, it's still a lot of fun dunking the blocks in the paint and making shapes on a page. 2. Giant Shape Art for Kids
Your students will love learning about all kinds of shapes with this colorful and hands-on 2D Shapes Activities pack which includes building, matching and sorting activities, posters, cards, worksheets, mini books and more. Shop TPT GET THE ABOVE SHAPE ACTIVITIES 2D Shape Posters
What can we see that is also a square? Shapes Activities for Toddlers We've found 20 great shape activities that are just perfect for toddlers and that I'm sure they will enjoy! Shape Matching Puzzle - Simple Fun for Kids Shape Playdough Mats - PreKinders Shape Puzzle Busy Bag - Teach Me Mommy Sponge Shape Stamps - Buggy and Buddy
1. Fizzy Shapes Sensory Bin Here is a fun science meets early math sensory bin for toddlers and preschoolers!! Make fizzy shapes using baking soda and vinegar!! 2. Shapes Parking Lot Activity Here is a fun activity to help your toddler or preschooler practice learning shapes and colours. Grab your cars for this fun hands-on learning activity! 3.
(Pocket of Preschool) Sticker Tracing - Draw outlines of shapes onto paper to trace by placing stickers over the outline. (Busy Toddler) Paper Roll Stampers - Form paper rolls into various shapes to use as stampers with paint. (Chalk Academy)
Shape activities teach kids about geometric concepts including shape, size, space and position. How to sort and categorize. Learning shapes and colors teaches children to think about attributes of objects and make observations about similarities and differences. This is needed for problem solving.
Shapes Activities for Preschoolers. 24. Feed the Shape Monster Game (Imagination Tree) - Make a fun activity for preschoolers and school aged kids with this feed the hungry shape monsters sorting game!. 25. Sticky Shape Bugs Activity (Mom Inspired Life) - This was a great way to develop fine motor skills and critical thinking skills while learning about shapes.
Learning shapes is the first step towards learning math skills, which we know are very important skills to have. So whether you are raising the next Frank Lloyd Wright, Einstein, or even Ms. Frizzle start them out with some fun, purposeful play with shapes. 11 Fun and Educational Shape Activities for Toddlers: From Montessori Hands-On Learning ...
The best way for children to learn about shapes is through play. They need many opportunities to touch and see three-dimensional shapes in their daily lives. These concepts can also be taught through shape recognition games and activities that are planned specifically to introduce the concept of shape.
Playful shape activities encourage them to explore the attributes of shapes, compare and classify them, and understand their real-world applications. So let them learn shapes through play! Try these shape activities for preschoolers below: 9. Shape Sensory Bin. Sensory bins are amazing for preschool children.
1. Materials you need: painter's tape, pom-poms, and a kid's broom! View Amazon's Price. 2. Set-up: Create the shapes that you want to work on, on the floor with painter's tape. Then, place pom-poms all around the floor near the shapes. 3. Activity: Your kiddo will use the sweeper to sweep the pom-poms into each shape.
Paint and play with Peg and Cat! Welcome to Elmo's World! Play six different mini-games in Elmo's room. Help Ramone bring back all the colors! Take care of Odd Squad's strange creatures! Use shapes to create different objects. Can you make them all?
Draw an oval shape, resembling an egg, on the chart. Make zigzag lines at the center of the egg, indicating a cracked eggshell. Let the toddler color the illustration of the egg. Once done, cut along the zigzag line to separate the eggs into distinct sections. Draw a shape on each half of the egg.
Not only is the toddler learning about the colors, they are playing while learning. Kids painting games are also a fun way to learn about colors. ... 70+ Shape Activities for Toddlers, Preschool and Kindergarten . Color Activities for Toddlers . Fine Motor Color Sorting Activity - Active Littles .
Playing with colors and shapes are wonderful activities for toddlers! As you play with these things, you naturally introduce your child to new language and build their vocabulary as you have fun together. The Color and Shape-themed activities are ideal for young children between 18 months and 2 1/2 years old. There are so many
pull off small balls of playdough using the thumb and index finger. Push the small amounts of playdough inside the cardboard shapes. draw numbers 1, 2, or 3 inside of the shapes. Place pom poms on the table. The child can use tweezers or their fingers to pick up the correct number of pom poms to place inside the shape.
Learning activities for toddlers are super simple to DIY with these 15 easy activity ideas. Working with your toddler on "school" type work covers the basics. Like, the basic basics: colors, numbers, letters, and shapes.
Learning shapes isn't just a fun activities for toddlers, it's also the building blocks to math. So dive into these learning shapes for toddlers activities and start the love and understanding of math early. Be sure to check out our other fun family-friendly kid activities and crafts!
We teach what a circle is, a triangle, a square. Colors, letters, numbers, shapes. These are some of the first things we work on with children. Colors are easy and fun to point out. Numbers and letters are building blocks for their entire future. But why do we focus on shapes? Are they just easy?