Shape Art

This one is super easy for you to do (can you tell I am into the easy things these days?).

Have your child create an animal. Have her draw the animal and then cut it out. Then have her cut out pieces of paper in the shape of your choice and glue them to the animal. In the end, you have some fun abstract art!

If your child is not old enough to cut, you can either cut for her or have her tear pieces of paper. For little ones, even if all they do is glue the pieces on, they enjoy it.

Daily Shapes

Everything around us is made of shapes. Helping children see this helps them to learn and recognize shapes more quickly.

For this activity, you take a piece of paper and fold it in half, hot dog style. You can print something on the paper like this one is, or you can just as easily write on it. Draw or print lines between the shapes and either you cut or have your child cut the lines between the shapes.

Find pictures of shapes. These could be printed, drawn, or from magazines. Have your child cut and glue them inside the hot dog paper, so if your child opens the circle flap, she will see the things with circles. This picture shows the flaps all open so you can see what is there.

Simple, fun, and effective!

Fall Shape Tree

Brayden made this fun project in first grade.

Supplies

• construction paper
• scissors
• glue

Activity

Have your child draw and cut out a tree trunk if appropriate. If not, do that ahead of time. Then have your child cut out various shaped leaves from different colors and glue to the tree. Again, if your child is not ready for scissors, you cut out the shapes ahead of time. Talk about the different colors and shapes as you go. When you are done you will have a fun fall picture!

Simple Shape Find

The other day I wanted to do a shape activity, but didn't want to take a lot of time to prep it. I came up with this. I simply took a piece of paper and drew several shapes on it. They aren't perfect (as you can see). Then I told my children to color the diamonds on the page. This picture is the one I did for my 6 year old. It was rather simple for him. I did fewer shapes on the page for my 4 year old, and even fewer for the 2 year old. 

If you wanted the shapes to look nicer, you could definitely make this in Word with the shape tools and print it off. 

Paper Pieces Sun

It is summer around here (or at least getting there). This is a fun activity for the sun that Brayden did in Kindergarten this year. It is a sun made from different cut pieces of paper. The pices are cut in various shapes: trapezoids, triangles, rectangles, diamonds, etc. That puts this activity covering fine motor skills, color skills, shapes, and gluing skills.

Supplies

• Paper to glue yellow papers onto (the blue paper in this picture)
• Yellow papers of various shades. You might also do gold as shown here
• Scissors
• Pencil
• Glue

Activity
Have your child draw a circle on the base paper. This will be the circle the yellow pieces go into.

Have your child cut out yellow pieces of paper. If your child is too young to cut, do this ahead of time and talk about the shapes as you glue.

Have your child glue the pieces into the circle for to create the sun!

3D Shapes

This is a fun way to talk about 3D shapes. All you need are toothpicks and miniatures marshmallows! Brayden did this in his Kindergarten class this year.

Give your child some toothpicks and marshmallows. I suggest you sit and do this activity with your child while he works on it. Then let your imaginations run while you build fun 3D creations! Talk about the names of the shapes you create (like a cube).

I would say this is for children 3 and up. Some more mature two year olds could do it, so long as they have the fine motor control to not poke themselves and to also create these items without getting frustrated in the process.

Chalk Shapes

The weather was beautiful. It was shape and color day. I had an activity planned, but it was for indoors and I didn't want to be inside and neither did the kids. So, I did an impromptu chalk shape game.

I drew large shapes on the ground in chalk. I did every basic shape I could think of. I then called out a shape and had my kids run to it. I didn't think my five year old would like the game at all (too easy) but he played along. It really worked well with my two year old. She doesn't have every shape down yet, and following big brother around helped her learn more about shapes. If you have a toddler and no older siblings, you can definitely run around with your toddler. 

You could also draw multiple shapes all over the driveway for multiple children if you need to make it more challenging.

Clover Cookie Cutter Prints

Age Range: Definitely toddler and up. You might try this with a pre-toddler if you are willing to referee mouth attempts and other messy situations.

Supplies Needed

• paper
• paint
• cookie cutter in shape of choice
• paper plate or pie plate (or something) to hold paint in 
• Also optional: glitter

Activity

1. Pour some paint into the paper plate or pie plate
2. Have your child dip the cookie cutter in the paint, then press on the paper. You can pour glitter on while wet

Shape matching

I recently had baby #3, and had multiple procedures done during that surgery, so things have been slow moving around here. Finally hopping back into things, I decided to start slow w/ the learning activities.

It's a simple activity you can do to evaluate progress, have a simple matching game, teach shapes (or other skill), or have a game you can pull out later that is easy for them to handle.

I went to the Dollar Store locally and bought packs of bulletin boarders in the teacher section. These are great for game pieces, making file folder games, hiding shapes, matching, sorting, etc.

Then I drew a few of the shapes on a paper and let her match them. After she matched them, I asked her to find the ____ (circle, square,etc). We also worked on colors.

Easy, quick, cheap. Great for those busy days!

Triangle Star Ornament

Brayden made this cute star in Primary this past Sunday. It is quite simple and a fun way for your child to make an ornament. This is perfect if you want to learn about the shape triangle at this time of year. It is also great for developing geometry skills in recognizing shapes within shapes.

Cut out two triangles. If your child is old enough, have him cut them out. This is excellent fine motor practice.

Glue the two triangles together so they form a star shape. Punch a hole in one point, tie a ribbon, and you are done!

This is simple enough for older children (preschooler and older) to do without your direct help, so you could have this be a Christmas activity while you are doing other things close by.

Fruit Bowl Math

This idea is inspired from the Math In Focus program. This is one of those things I thought I would try out, but was sure the kids would be only mildly interested. Then they surprised me by not wanting to ever stop.

AGE RANGE: It is meant for Kindergarteners, but my 3 year old also did it all with no problem at all. I would say definitely preschooler and up, with some older toddlers being able to do it. You could also do a variation for younger toddlers. See Variation section below.

SKILLS LEARNED

This activity works on teaching similarities and differences among objects. It also works on counting and shapes. You will also get some color work in there.

SUPPLIES

• bowl
• Two apples
• One banana
• One lemon
• One strawberry

PREPARATION

Simply put the fruit in the bowl.

ACTIVITY

• Choose two fruits. Have your child say the name and what is the same and/or different about them.
• I had my children describe the shape of the fruit
• I put all of the fruit in a bowl and asked the child to take out two circle shape fruits or two yellow fruits, etc.
• Put X number of fruit in the bowl and ask your child to count them
• Take all fruit out of the bowl. Ask your child to put X number of fruits in the bowl
• Put two fruit in the bowl. Ask your child to make it so there are four fruit in the bowl
• Put five fruit in the bowl. Ask your child to make it so there are three fruit in the bowl.

Etc.

VARIATION

For the younger crowd, go through the fruit in the bowl and describe what is the same and different around them. Hearing you talk about it will help build his vocabulary and awareness. Say colors, shapes, number, etc.

Simple Summer Fun: Bubbles

Bubbles are another fun summer activity that is providing learning opportunities for your child. Your child observes how the bubbles blow and how the wind affects where they go. Your child observes what makes bubbles pop. Your child also gets some great gross motor work in when chasing bubbles, and can get fine motor work in while blowing bubbles.

I once saw a great addition on the show Curious George. George wanted to blow bubbles using different shapes--for example, a slotted spatula. When he blew them, they of course didn't blow into rectangles, triangles, or squares, but circles. So if you want to work some science shape learning in, you can try that.

 

Oh, and if you start to get light headed from all of the bubble blowing, I seriously love this thing. My sister gave it to Kaitlyn as a birthday gift over a year ago. It is nice to have my breath back :) Plus, the kids love to blow bubbles with it and I get to take pictures! There are lots of Bubble Blowers out there.

 

Spring Chick

This is really a classic activity that my husband even remembers doing in school.

AGE RANGE
The bulk of this activity is cutting, so your child will need to be able to cut well enough to do this. I would guess for most that will be somewhere between 3.5-4.5, with some possibly between 3-3.5.

If your child is unable to cut, you could let your child color the chick and even the egg (make it an Easter egg!) before you cut it out. Young toddlers would have fun playing with this once it was done.

SKILLS TAUGHT
This is a great activity for talking about baby chicks. You can talk about how they grow and how they hatch. It also provides fine motor skill development if your child cuts the chick out. You could also turn this into a shape activity.

MATERIALS

• White paper (cardstock works best)
• Yellow paper
• Orange paper
• Crayons
• Scissors
• Brads (two)
• Glue

PREPARATION

1. Draw the egg shape on the white paper
2. Draw a zigzag for the crack down the center of the egg
3. Draw the chick on the yellow paper
4. Draw a triangle on the orange paper

ACTIVITY

• If your child will be coloring the eggs and/or chick, have him do so
• Have your child cut out the items (or you do it if needed)
• Have your child cut the egg down the zigzag (or you do it if needed)
• Have your child glue the nose in place
• Have your child draw eyes on the chick
• Punch one brad in each half of the egg
• Put the egg together over the chick. Push the brads through the chick. Open out the brads to secure in place
• Talk about chicks, incubation, and hatching

Leprechaun

Have I ever mentioned how much I LOVE Brayden's preschool teacher? She is the best. I have zero complaints about her, which is kind of rare for me. I usually see room for improvement somewhere. With her, nothing. Love her. She is the perfect teacher.

Okay, so this cute leprechaun is something Brayden brought home from preschool, hence the "ode to teacher" by me.

SKILLS TAUGHT
With this activity, you can talk about colors and shapes. It is also a fun art activity, and of course, a fun way to celebrate a holiday.

AGE RANGE
This is another one of those activities where young toddlers can even do it because it is easily assembled.

SUPPLIES

• Small paper plate (but you could use a white piece of paper. You probably want it to be stiff, so if you need to use paper, stiffen it with some cardboard behind it--like cardboard from a cereal box or something).
• Curly noodles--they colored theirs orangy/red, but you could leave it the original color if you like.
• Crayons
• Green construction paper
• Black construction paper
• Yellow construction paper
• Glue

PREP

• For the toddlers, cut out the shapes to make the hat. You will need a green square, a green rectangle, a black rectangle, and a yellow square.
• For the preschoolers, draw the shapes for the hat, but let them cut it out.
• For the older children, have them draw and cut out the shapes for the hat.
• Gather supplies.

ACTIVITY

1. Have older children draw and/or cut out shapes for hat
2. Have all children draw and color the face for the leprechan
3. Glue the hat together
4. Glue the hat on the plate
5. Glue noodles on hat for whiskers
6. Let dry, then display!

Circles and O's

This is a simple activity you can do to learn about several different things. You can talk about colors, the shape circle, or the letter O. I also thought you could turn this into an Olympic rings on the flag activity. Brayden did this (pictured) at preshool.

AGE RANGE

Toddler and up. You might find this appropriate for some pre-toddlers, also.

SUPPLIES

• Paper
• Paint
• Paper Cup
• Plate to put paint on

PREP

• Gather supplies
• Prep work area (tablecloth or whatever you use to protect your work space)
• Prep child (aprons or whatever you do to protect clothing)
• Pour paint onto plates (one color per plate)

ACTIVITY

• Have your child dip the paper cup into the end (open end down)
• Have your child stamp the paper with the cup

EXTENSIONS
You could do this with a variety of items, including cookie cutters.

Cotton Ball Snowman

Winter is alive and well at my house, so we are still celebrating snow. Celebrations make you happy :) This cotton ball snowman is a fun texture activity. You can learn about snow, "soft", and circles all while making a cute art project. Pictured are Kaitlyn's (age 2.5--left) and Bradyen's (age 4.5--right)

SUPPLIES

• Cotton balls
• Glue
• Paper to put snowman on
• pen/pencil
• Items for buttons, nose, eyes, hat, and arms. We used paper for everything on the body and Do-A-Dot for the arms and hat.

PREP

1. Gather supplies
2. Draw three circles on paper.

ACTIVITY

1. Have your child put glue on the bottom circle. If your child isn't old enough for doing glue herself, do it for her. Oh, and take notice of my nice table cloth. I got this at the dollar store so I could protect my table from things like glue and paint. It is the craft table cloth, it cost a dollar, and I don't care what happens to it. Everyone has more fun.
2. Have your child put the cotton balls all over the circle.

3. Repeat for other two circles.
4. Create your arms, hat, nose, eyes, and buttons.
5. Allow dry and display!

Be sure to talk about how soft the cotton balls are as well as the shapes you are using to create your snowman. Talk about the biggest circle and the smallest circle to get some spacial relationships learning in there.

Snowman Rice Krispie Treats

I got this idea from the Preschooler's Busy Book and added some decorations for fun.

1. Make a batch of Rice Krispie Treats.
2. Put coconut in a bowl.
3. Spray hands with cooking spray or wet with water.
4. Have your child roll three balls for the snowman.
5. Have your child roll the balls in the coconut.
6. Stack balls on top of each other to form the snow man.
7. Put eyes, nose, buttons, arms, etc. on snowman. We used chocolate chips for eyes and buttons, pretzels for arms, and candy corn for noses.

This is a great activity for learning about circles, spheres, and size relationships. You need three different sized balls for each snowman. If you have your child help with making the rice krispie treats, it will be good math practice. These are also easy to do so the finished product looks nice. Brayden (4.5) and Kaitlyn (2.5) made the ones pictured. Brayden's is on the left, Kaitlyn's in the middle, then they both worked on the third.

We made three snowmen then put the rest in an 8x8 pan for normal treats.

Snowman Shape Pictures

I was thinking about Manda's post on Shape Pictures and realized that I could easily do a snow man shape picture!

AGE RANGE

I would say two and up. Prior to two and your child would need a lot of asssistence, but you can always do it!

SKILLS TAUGHT

• shapes
• art
• fine motor skills

SUPPLIES

• Pieces of paper cut into shapes. With the older preschooler, you can draw the shapes and let him cut them himself.
• Glue
• Scissors
• Optional: Glitter

PREP

1. Cut out shapes or draw shapes for your child to cut out. For each picture, I used three white ciricles (three different sizes), one large white square, one black square, one black regtangle, five black small circles (eyes and buttons), one yellow circle, one green triangle, one brown rectangle, two brown rectangles (for arms), one orange triangle, and one blue rectangle.
2. Set out supplies

ACTIVITY

1. Introduce the shape pieces to your child. Talk about what shape each piece is.
2. Tell your child you are going to use these shapes to create a snowman picture.
3. You might need to put the pieces together to show the child how they will all come together.
4. If using glitter, apply glitter to snowman pieces or snow piece. I used glitter to be able to see the snow man better since he was white on white.
5. While the glitter dries, assemble the other pieces.
6. Glue the picture together!

Play Foam

Brayden came home from my parent's house one day with a present. It was PlayFoam. After reading the box and learning that it was supposedly no mess, I decided that surely the present was for me! We played with it, and it really is quite clean! It isn't 100% mess free, but it is a lot cleaner than play doh. I really, really like it.

You can use this play foam to make and learn all sorts of things. You can make shapes, learn about colors, and make letters to name a few. For the young artist (or old), you can sculpt animals and other creations.

I will be turing to this more often for practicing making letters than play doh. It is much less of a hassel overall. Not to say don't find value in play doh, I do. But this is cleaner and simpler for something like making letters.

I wanted to share this find with you all! The packaging says it is for ages 3 and up, but I did let Kaitlyn play with it. She is 2.5. Happy sculpting!

Licorice Letters and Shapes

This is a fun activity to do when you are learning or reviewing letters and shapes. The age appropriateness depends on your child. If they can chew gummy candy in small pieces without choking, you can try this. The Pull-N-Peel Twizzlers are softer than most licorice, too. They don't have to be able to manipulate the licorice strings themselves, though practice can help with fine motor skills. Even watching you make shapes or letters and then trying to recognize them will help!





Materials:

*I used Twizzlers Pull-N-Peel. They seem to be very flexible and easy to manipulate.
*Hard surface, like a table or cookie sheet.

Activity:
Pull of strips of the licorice and practice making shapes, letters, or numbers for your child to identify. You can use one long strip for some shapes like ovals and circles. For shapes with corners and sides it may be helpful to break the strips apart or cut them. You can point out sides, corners, and angles when making them. ("Triangles have 3 sides and 3 corners. See the 3 points? Let's count the sides together.") You can also make letters to identify. Eat when finished! :)