Learning shapes is a pre-reading skill. It helps children to recognize letters and is helpful in math functions, too. You should begin by teaching simple shapes, such as a circle, square, triangle, and rectangle. Later you can add other shapes, like diamonds, ovals, stars and hearts. Reading books, doing crafts, and playing games are all methods of helping your child learn and retain information about shapes, giving him or her a head start in kindergarten and in life.
Items Needed:
Paper
Pencil
Scissors
Glue
Internet access
Printer
Poster board
Card stock
Pictures, either cut out of magazines, printed from clipart, or hand-drawn
Velcro adhesive dots
Marker
Introducing Shapes
Step 1
Draw a circle on a piece of paper and ask your child if he knows what it’s called. Talk about the features of the shape, such as how it is a single line that connects to make a round object.
Step 2
Ask your child to look around the room and tell you something that looks like a circle. Point out some circles, too, such as the door knob, the ceiling fixture, or a clock.
Step 3
Repeat steps one and two with other shapes, such as a square, a rectangle, and a triangle.
Seeing Shapes
Step 1
Read a book about shapes, pointing out the different ones as you read. Amazon is an excellent resource for finding an array of books to learn shapes (see Resource 1).
Step 2
Discuss how every day items can be made of shapes. Hands-on lessons help kindergarten students retain information. Your child can make an elephant out of shapes using the templates provided by DLTK (see Resource 2).
Step 3
Obtain early learning drawing books, which often teach children to draw simple objects, such as animals or vehicles, using shapes.
Shape Game
Step 1
At the top of the poster board, use a marker to write “Let’s Match Our Shapes” and divide the poster board into four columns and four rows for a total of sixteen squares.
Step 2
In the first column, draw or glue cutouts of a circle, square, triangle, and rectangle. In the remaining twelve squares, affix one side of the Velcro dots.
Step 3
Gather three pictures for each shape. For instance, for the circle you can use a cookie, a ball, and the Earth. For the square, you can use a block, a present, and a checkerboard. You can use a musical triangle, a piece of pizza, and a birthday hat for the triangle. For the rectangle, you might choose to use a flag, a book, and a door.
Step 4
Glue the pictures to card stock and cut them to fit in the size of the squares on your poster board. You may chose to laminate the pictures or cover them in transparent contact paper, so that they do not bend or tear easily. Affix the other half of the Velcro dots to the back of each picture, so that the student can match the pictures to the shapes (see Resource 3).
Resources:
Amazon.com: shapes: Books, Amazon.com
Elephant Shapes, DLTK-kids
Articles on Homeschooling and Lesson Plans, Printables, and Worksheets, Poetic Lotion
