6 Activities to Teach Your Preschooler about Shapes

Even tiny babies can recognize the difference between a square and a circle by looking at them and touching them. Children do, however, need to learn the names of the shapes, how to recognize them in various forms and be able to draw them to prepare for school or kindergarten. Try these six fun activities for preschool children, and teach them all about shapes.Shapes are used when children learn to write, as most letters involve some form of the basic shapes. Learning to draw starts with drawing basic shapes, as most objects are formed from them. Shapes are used to develop spatial perception, as well as in mathematics – and not only for geometry. As adults, we use shapes to help us recognize road traffic signs, pack a kitchen cupboard or rearrange the furniture in the living room.There are many ways to introduce shapes to your child, and the earlier you start the better. Try some of these activities for preschool children between the ages of 3 and 6 years.1.    Name the ShapesChances are your child has toys and books with pictures of shapes in them. Use those, flash cards or shape worksheets to help your child identify different shapes. Start with basic shapes like squares, circles and triangles then add diamonds, ovals and rectangles as you progress. More complex shapes like hexagons will only be learnt later on in school.2.    Find the ShapeChoose a particular shape to ‘find' each day. As your child goes about their daily routine, point out the shapes around them and ask them to name them. Once they are familiar with some shapes, they can find and name them on their own. Some examples are a plate, a clock, a button, a watch face and wheels on the bike or car for circles.3.    Draw the ShapeEncourage your child to draw shapes. They can follow a dot-to-dot outline, trace around drawn shapes and eventually try drawing them on their own. A set of worksheets can be invaluable here.4.    Make a Shape CollageFind pictures of the shapes your child knows in magazines, cut them out and make a collage with the pictures. If you can't find all the shapes you need, cut some out of colorful card.5.    Make a Shape PictureCut out different sized shapes, and see how many pictures you and your child can make with them. For example, a small circle on top of a big circle with two small triangles on the top circle forms the basic outline of a cat. A house can be made up of a triangle for the roof, a big square for the house, and smaller squares for windows. Some worksheets include drawing exercises that use shapes to help teach children how to draw.6.    Have a Shape Treasure HuntOn your next walk around the block, in the park or in your own yard, have a Shape Treasure Hunt. Help your child look for shapes in branches, roots, leaves, water and other things they see while out and about. If you're playing in your own yard, hide some cut out shapes for your child to find. Just don't forget that there must be some ‘treasure' at the end of it all – an ice-cream, extra TV time or something small will do the trick.Shapes can also be used to help your child learn about colors, in exercises that ask him or her to color the circles red, squares blue and so on. Counting the shapes helps to introduce counting and numbers as well.If you make learning a fun activity, your child will be willing to learn for the rest of his or her life. These activities for preschool children will help your child enjoy learning about shapes. The more fun they have while learning, the easier they will learn new skills and new learning areas, helping them prepare for school and beyond.