The world of shapes is a mesmerising dimension for toddlers, where they understand how to organise visual information and even learn basic maths skills. Yes, maths skills! All of this, of course, while playing!
Let’s get started with the best possible exercises to help preschoolers solidify their understanding of two-dimensional structures and improve their cognitive development.
“From the earliest years, as children navigate around their environment, they must learn about near and far, up and down, round and straight, and much more. Adults can help to extend and make explicit their children’s ideas about spatial relations, which is a more complex and challenging topic than usually assumed. Educators can use many different activities and approaches, including intentional teaching, to foster learning of spatial relations .”
– Linda.M.Platas, writer at Stanford University
15 Exciting Activities for Preschoolers
Here are some activities that will help ‘shape’ your child’s mind at this most nascent stage of learning.
- Shape Hunt
- Playdough Madness
- Toothpick shape fun
- Sidewalk chalk shapes
- Get Set Sort
- Cookie Noughts and Crosses
- Circle collage
- Block ‘Paint and Dunk’
- Kinetic Sand Fun
- Connect the dots
- Nature shape hunt
- Train Art
- Fun Shape Books
- Get cheesy
- Shape Clouds
One of the most fun shape activities for kindergarten kids. Get your little one to point out shapes in their home excitedly.
Hot Tip: Older children can record shapes on paper as they go, while younger ones can discuss their findings with you.
You can put this most loved item of play for children to even better use by having them make shapes out of it. One of the shape activities for kindergarten kids that never goes out of style.
Hot Tip: Consider using geometric cookie cutters to make those shapes with a sense of elan.
Get those toothpicks out and have your toddler create shapes with them. This is one of the more creative shape activities for preschoolers and kindergarten kids.
Hot Tip: you can later use gumdrops to make ‘3-dimensional’ shapes like pyramids and cubes.
Shape activities are cooler outdoors! Draw some shapes on the sidewalk and have your child hop from one to the next when you call out the names of the shapes. It is one of the joyful shape activities for kindergarten kids.
Hot Tip: Want your kids to get more exercise? Draw those shapes further from each other!
Get your toddlers busy sorting shapes. All you need is common items from your home. Circular shapes, rectangular shapes, etc. Kindergarten kids can indulge in this one of the shapes activities anytime. It is one of the fun shape activities for toddlers.
Hot Tip: Make it even more fun by hiding several shapes and asking your child to find them!
Looking for fun with shapes activities? Bake chocolate cookies in the shapes of noughts and crosses and play the popular game that goes by the same name.
Hot Tip: Make it a set of seven. The winner gets to eat one more cookie (we all know who will eat them all!)
A good option when choosing from preschool shape activities and crafts. Get your toddler oriented with the ‘circle’ with this fun activity. The items you need for this are coloured paper, scissors and glue. Cut a large circle and many small circles to glue onto the larger one.
Hot Tip: Drawing inside the smaller circles makes for a more interesting collage.
This is among the shape activities you don’t want to miss for smaller children. Have kids dunk the blocks they play with into paint and press them onto paper to create many shapes.
Hot Tip: Use as many colours of paint as you can. Preferably a different one for each shape, for a multicoloured experience.
This is one of the shape activities for preschoolers that will surely have them craving more. Spread some kinetic sand into a plastic container. Then, push shape puzzle pieces into the sand, remove them and have your child identify the shapes. It is one of the amusing shape activities for toddlers. It is one of the best shape games for preschoolers.
Hot Tip: Have your child insert the puzzle pieces themselves for fun. Afterward, let them play with the sand as a bonus!
Did you know that shape activities for kindergarten kids could encourage their interests to become rational researchers in the future?
‘Connect the dots’ is one of the shapes activities that are integral in improving concentration and developing image recognition. You can even make a version yourself if you can’t find it in your local shop. It is one of the joyful shape games for preschoolers.
Hot Tip: Use dry-erase markers to play this game on windows while playing activities for shapes for kindergarten kids.
Shapes activities for kindergarten outdoors are thoroughly engaging. Have your child find stones and other things shaped like the ones they are learning: circles, triangles, rectangles…
Hot Tip: If there are four or more kids, you can divide them into groups and see which group finds the most shapes.
All kids love ‘choo-choo trains.’ Get them to create their own through this, one of the preschool shape activities and crafts you don’t want to miss. Use rectangle paper cut-outs as the train wagons and circular ones as wheels while playing Train Art which is one of the amazing activities for shapes for kindergarten kids.
Hot Tip: Have children draw doors and windows on the wagons, and a train track, too!
If you want to shape activities that will help nurture a love for reading in your child, look no further. There are plenty of fun books out there to choose from to teach your toddler all about shapes. It is one of the joyful preschool-shaped activities for kids.
Hot Tip: Try and find a book with a section for adults that might help them teach their children more about shapes.
Did you know that shape activities for kindergarten kids improve their logical and maths abilities?
Take that cookie noughts and crosses game to another level by cutting cheese into plenty of other shapes and placing them within outlines of their counterparts on chart paper. It is one of the yummiest preschool shape activities for kids.
Hot Tip: You could use different types of cheese for different shapes to raise the fun quotient of this game. You should cut small pieces, though. It’s cheese, not sugar, but calories nonetheless!
A great way to infuse crafts with shapes activities. Draw the outlines of different shapes on a large piece of chart paper with a pencil. Then tell your child to say, make a ‘cloud triangle’ by having them fill in the triangle shape with a cotton ball. It is one of the best preschool shape activities for kids.
Hot Tip: You might want to use blue chart paper to enhance this game with the effect of a ‘blue sky.’
Conclusion
One of the best parts about teaching shapes is that kids don’t even realise they are learning. By getting them to indulge in the activities listed herein, you will find them building and manipulating in so many ways that will help drive a deep engagement.
Which of these shape activities are you going to introduce to improve spatial relations of your kids in kindergarten?
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