Shape Activities for Preschoolers

If you have a tiny preschooler, you are used to answering hundreds of questions they ask and entertaining their curiosity throughout the day! They want to know how a car moves ahead, why the fan rotates, or why they have to go to school every day! It could be anything. Another peculiar thing could be that they want their parathas or sandwiches cut only in a particular way- either diagonally or in equal halves. So, without realising, they are already identifying shapes and using them in their daily life. Shapes are one of the first concepts of Maths that children understand and learn, and they build their foundation of cognitive skills. So, teaching basic shapes to preschoolers and doing shape activities for preschoolers are important parts of their initial learning.

Basic Introduction to Shapes

 
Introducing your kids to shapes and shape activities for preschoolers is like introducing them to the world around them and making them a part of their surroundings. Once they can recognise and differentiate basic shapes, they become more aware of things around them.

• Circle: A great way to help them identify a circle is by giving an example of a ball, a car wheel, a cookie, or anything without sharp corners! A fun shape activity for preschoolers can also reward them with a small cookie when they correctly identify a cookie or a wheel as a circle.
• Square: You can give an example of a sandwich or a chocolate bar where all four sides are of the same length.
• Triangle: When introducing preschoolers to a triangle shape, make it magical! Show them a wizard’s hat or a wizard eating a triangle slice of pizza. You can tell them that triangles have three sides and three corners and are pointy, like a pizza slice.
• Rectangle: An excellent example of a rectangle shape is books, which have one longer side and a shorter side.
• Oval: You can show preschoolers an egg, saying an oval shape is like a stretched-out circle.

The Importance of Shape Learning for Preschoolers

 
There are many benefits of shape learning for preschoolers:

• Cognitive Benefits: With the correct shape activities for preschoolers, you can build their cognitive skills, which include improving spatial awareness, problem-solving skills, and critical thinking.
• Motor Skills Development: When preschoolers learn about shapes, they can enhance their fine and gross motor skills through shape-related activities
• Language Development: Fun preschool shape activities also help kids expand their vocabulary and learn new words like circle, square, triangle, etc.
• Early Math Skills: Shape activities for preschoolers are their foundation for geometry and pattern recognition.

Shape Activities for Preschoolers

 
Kids learn the most with hands-on activities and games, so we have designed and made a list of fun shapes and colour activities for preschoolers. All these help students promote their curiosity and improve their spatial awareness.

1. A Game of Sorting Shapes: This is a fun and interactive game. In this shape activity for preschoolers, ask them to sort and differentiate all the everyday objects around them according to their shapes. This way, they can learn all the basic shapes, like squares, circles, etc.
2. Organise a Shape Hunt in Your Home: Learning shapes for preschoolers becomes fun with this exciting game. Ask your kids to go on a treasure hunt around the house and look for different shapes in daily objects and items. This game helps children become more curious and engaged.
3. Make Your Own Shape Puzzle: Make your own puzzles and have fun with this preschool shape activity. It is quite simple; you draw various shapes on a cardboard and cut it into multiple pieces. Then, ask your kid to assemble the pieces into a shape. This helps children develop problem-solving skills, and they learn to recognise all the shapes.
4. Make Shape Stamps Using Sponge: This is an easy but very enjoyable shape-learning activity for preschoolers. You can cut out different shapes from a sponge, and the children can use them as a stamp. It is a creative way to teach shapes to preschoolers.
5. Include Shapes During Storytime: Storytelling is an easy and entertaining way to introduce preschoolers to shape-related activities. In addition to encouraging a love of reading, it helps kids relate to shapes in interesting and familiar contexts.
6. Build Things with Blocks: A simple and engaging activity for teaching shapes to preschoolers is letting them play with building blocks. Encourage them to build different structures and items with the blocks. It’s a great way to foster creativity and bonding in preschoolers.
7. Fun with Cooking: This is an excellent way to get your kids to help you in the kitchen and get them excited about food and cooking. Involve them in the process of making rotis or parathas or make cookies in different shapes to help them recognise shapes.
8. Create Shapes Using Playdough: This is a favourite amongst kids! Enjoy creating basic shapes with your preschooler using playdough. It’s an engaging activity that involves colourful shapes.
9. Make a Shape Collage Art Sheet: A colour and shape activity for preschoolers is making a shape collage sheet with them using newspaper and magazine cut-outs. It is very entertaining for the kids, and they learn about various shapes.
10. Make a Shape Sensory Tub: This is an excellent shape-learning activity for preschoolers and very easy for you to organise. Add raw chickpeas, kidney beans, or any other beans/pulses in a big tub or container. Then, add different objects of various shapes and ensure they are well covered with the beans. Let the kids pick out the objects and segregate them shape-wise.
11. Mark Shapes with Chalk: Take the kids outdoors and give them different coloured chalk. Ask them to use the chalk to mark as many shapes as they can identify in their surroundings.
12. Make Three-Dimensional Posters: When you are teaching shapes to preschoolers, you can go beyond 2D pictures and images. You can draw 3D images of shapes and give building blocks of all shapes and sizes to students to help them recognise shapes better.
13. Shape Graph for Preschoolers: This is a good matching shapes activity for preschoolers. Make a graph on a chart paper. At the bottom of the graph, draw different shapes in each block. Ask the students to put blocks, buttons, or stickers of shapes matching the bottom one in each line.
14. Shape Block Printing: This activity combines arts, crafts, and shape learning. To teach shapes to preschoolers, provide them with blocks of all shapes and paints. Instruct them to dip the blocks in paint and imprint it on a piece of paper. You can ask them to make different patterns using the blocks.
15. Pattern Block Mats: Pattern blocks are manipulatives that teach kids maths concepts. There are wooden or plastic blocks of all shapes; kids can use them to make different designs and patterns.
16. Marshmallow And Toothpick Shape Activity: Get the kids excited by giving them some marshmallows. They should use toothpicks and marshmallows to create different shapes.
17. Make Fun Shape Buddies: A shape craft activity for preschoolers is making shape buddies for them. You can use craft papers to cut out different shapes. Give eye stickers and markers to the kids and make fun shape buddies from the cut-outs.
18. Match The Shape Buttons On Mat: This is a colourful and fun shape-learning activity for preschoolers. Have a mat or a cardboard with all shapes drawn. Kids must match colour and shape buttons to match one on the mat.
19. Use Stickers of Shapes: You can draw big shapes or objects on paper and give your preschoolers stickers for all the shapes. They have to stick the stickers of a particular shape in its matching image. For example, all round-shaped stickers go on a wheel’s drawing.
20. Make a Fun Math Game: This game also helps teach kids geometric concepts. All you need are building blocks in all shapes and a bag. Show the children all the blocks and describe their shapes. Then, mix all the blocks in the bag. Let students close their eyes, feel each block in the bag and try to recognise the shape.
21. Matching Shapes to Outlines: Mix arts and crafts with teaching shapes to preschoolers in this activity. You should draw outlines different shapes on a piece of paper, and then the kids can match blocks of shapes to the outlines drawn.
22. Stamping Shapes in Kinetic Sand: Kinetic sand looks like regular sand but sticks together and is not sticky! When you press it hard, it forms shapes, which is helpful for kids learning shapes. So, you can use kinetic sand and stamps to teach shapes to preschoolers.
23. Use Spaghetti Noodles: For this shape recognition activity for preschoolers, you will need a few shape cards and boiled spaghetti. Then, you ask the students to place the spaghetti around the shape cards. It is a good motor practice for kids, too.

Extension Ideas and Variations To Teach Your Preschooler Shapes

 
The above activities are great for preschoolers starting shape learning. Once, they are familiar with the basic concept of shapes, you can use a few more creative ideas and variations to help them understand shapes better.

• Incorporating Colours with Shapes: This way, you can teach two concepts to your preschoolers at the same time. An example of this is asking children to find a yellow-coloured rectangle from a pile of blocks.
• Combining Shapes to Create New Objects: You can encourage your child to think critically and creatively by asking them to combine common shapes to make a new object. You can also challenge them to make a car using circle and rectangle blocks.
• Incorporating Technology with Digital Shape Activities: Many apps and websites are available for shape activities for preschool students. Use them to teach your kid shape recognition, solve shape puzzles, etc.
• Using Real-Life Objects for Shape Recognition: This is the next step in shape recognition activities for preschoolers. Put out things that have a similar shape to the ones your child has learnt and teach the new shape. For example, point at a stop signboard and inform that it is an octagon.

Conclusion

 
In the early years of children, shapes and spatial reasoning are fundamental concepts. There is a close relationship between a child’s mathematical development and their understanding and manipulation of shapes. So, introducing fun shape learning activities for preschoolers goes a long way in their overall cognitive and creative development. Such shape-learning activities like puzzles and construction play that test children’s ability to evaluate, combine, and rotate shapes are important for developing their spatial thinking.