Teaching Shapes – Tot School Week 2

Week two was full of teaching shapes and exploring the wonderful world that is made up of so many different shapes and in all different sizes! Teaching shapes seems to be a bit easier than teaching colors because it’s a finite idea. There is no gray area like colors can have different shades and it’s not abstract. The hardest part was picking out which 7 shapes we would choose to spend the most time playing with!

Please note that there are affiliate links to supplies, toys, and materials used in our home for this theme. Anything that you purchase through these links helps provide for my family. Thank you for choosing to support us! 

If you missed week one, we talked about teaching colors, so shapes was the perfect segue since they are clumped together so many times.

Supplies

Toys

Melissa & Doug Shapes Sound Puzzle – This is especially great for the youngest learners. All of the shapes are equilateral so the go in easily. Each time a shape is put in, the puzzle says the name of the shape!

There are tons and tons of other puzzles out there that all deal with shapes too. In fact, you can almost always find a shape puzzle at a thrift store that is missing its pieces. We made a felt, silent puzzle with a puzzle from a thrift store with no pieces.

Craft supply stores, and even the dollar store have foam cubes, pom-poms to use for spheres, and even some great stencils for tracing and just fun play. You can use stickers for fine motor play

Ring Stackers (Circle and Cone)

• We have one from Melissa & Doug and another from IKEA. Having both is a fun way to explore which circles fit on which pegs. The IKEA one also was easier to discuss the concept of a cone.

Shape Sorters

• We use a Rolling Shape Sorter that has smooth edges for easy sliding of shapes into the correct spot
• We also have a Melissa & Doug shape sorter that we got as a gift. The edges are bevelled which actually make it a little more difficult. My daughter had to actually thoughtfully place each shape where it belonged.

Books about teaching shapes

We read several books this week, but mostly nothing in particular. In every book, we pointed out the different shapes that comprised each image. Two great books focusing primarily on shapes are these two wonderful kids books:

Mouse Shapes by Ellen Stoll Walsh

My Very First Book of Shapes by Eric Carle

Teaching Shapes through Activities & Local Places

From tracing shapes in our stencils to cutting out shapes with creative  memories pattern, we practiced making shapes in many different ways.

We folded paper to make 3D versions of each shape. For instance, we had a square, but we also folded paper to make a cube.

My daughter and her friend both played with lace and trace games where each one was a different shape.

Melissa and Doug makes a wonderful shape game that incorporates vehicles, nature, and more objects that are in our everyday lives. This was a great segue into pointing out naturally occurring shapes around us! Find it here: Melissa & Doug Shape Pattern Blocks

Busy Bags

We used cookie cutter in busy bags this week! These make great tracing tools!

We also had some shape sorting travel games from about a month ago that we re-used.

 

Teaching Shapes Schedule/Daily Ideas

Bible verse of the week: Job 10:8 “Your hands shaped me and made me…” As a family we love the idea of being molded and shaped by God for His purpose. In fact, that was the theme of our wedding (Shaped Together In Christ). This is a great opportunity to talk about how God shapes each of us.

Monday: Circle and Sphere

• Apple and dehydrated apple chips, puffs
• Play ball!

Tuesday: Square, Cube, rectangle

• Cheese slices and cheese cubes, crackers
• Wrap a gift for someone
• Design a family flag

Wednesday: Star

• Cut out a sandwich or other snack with a star cookie cutter.
• Go star gazing at night

Thursday: Heart

• artichoke hearts, celery hearts, heart-shaped foods
• Make a valentine’s day craft!
  

Friday: Triangle and Cone

• Pizza, Ice cream cone filled with fruits, slices of cheese in a triangle shape, wedges of a sandwich
• Set up a tepee (even in your house!)
• Wear birthday hats all day

Saturday: Diamond

• Cut a sandwich into 4’s and make a diamond out of it.
• Build and fly a kite

Sunday: Oval

• Boiled eggs
• Dye some eggs before eating them
• Draw a self portrait on an oval shaped paper like it’s a mirror
• Go walking on a track that’s shaped like an oval
• Throw a football

Find more information on themes and download the calendar & planner.