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This website, which is based on a television network that is well known by young children, offers numerous gaming options for students that will educate them along the way about their geometric shapes.

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This is an incredible website that outlines five age appropriate lessons that should be taught to young students introducing them to geometric shapes, but teaching each lesson both in a strategic manner and in a specific order.

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Download the PDF version of this lesson plan. Shape cut-outs are included.

Introduction

The ability to accurately identify shapes is a foundational mathematical skill, and it is quite rewarding for children because their world is full of shapes. Understanding shapes will enable students to be more in tune to the world around them and see the connections between objects, as well as being better able to appreciate artistic works.

Guiding Questions

What are some basic shapes?

Where are these shapes found?

How can a child incorporate a knowledge of shapes into his/her life?

Learning Objectives
After completing the lessons in this unit, students will be able to:

Identify specific shapes.

Recognize shapes in the environment.

Create original works of art using the shapes.

Preparation

Read through each of the mini-lessons.

Find the suggested materials you want to use.

Make any copies needed and gather any materials you want to use.

Choose appropriate extension activities.

Lesson 1: Introducing shapes

Select a couple of books about shapes to introduce the idea. Some recommended choices are:

Shapes, Shapes, Shapes, by Tana Hoban

The Greedy Triangle by Marilyn Burns

Round is a Mooncake by Roseanne Thong

Food for Thought by Joost Elffers

Museum Shapes from the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art

Read them to the student and encourage thinking about the concept of all objects having shapes.

Lesson 2: Identifying shapes

Materials

Standard set of eight crayons

Sand, sugar or flour

Two small cups

Container with fairly short sides (like a plastic food storage container or a small box)

Use the table below to give the child an overview of basic shapes. Go over them twice, then go on to the activities.

Identification Activity
After you have gone over the list twice, give the student the Shape Sheet at the end of this lesson and have him/her use the crayons to mark the shapes as you direct, reading through the directions on the next page. Feel free to give hints using the "Need to Know" section in the chart above.

Drawing Activity
Next, the student will draw the shapes with a finger in sand, sugar, or flour. To do this, put the two cups of sand, sugar, or flour in the container. The child should be able to reach into the container with ease.

Allowing the child to reference the Shape Sheet, have the child draw the shapes with his or her finger. If there is more than one child, allow them to share the exercise, with one child drawing a shape and the other identifying it, then exchanging roles.
Identification Directions

How many circles can you find? Color them red.

How many squares can you find? Color them green.

Can you find the oval? Draw a circle inside of it.

How many triangles do you see? Color them blue.

Find the rectangle and draw an oval around it.

Color the rhombus black.

Can you find three pentagons? Color them purple.

Are there more parallelograms or pentagons? Put an "X" on the parallelograms.

Find the hexagons and color them yellow.

Do you see the trapezoid? Color it brown.

Find all the octagons and color them orange.

Lesson 3: Playing with shapes

Sing and dance along with the Hokey Pokey Shape Song!

Cut out the shapes at the end of this lesson, one six-page set per child. You can print the sheets on colored paper or allow the child to color the shapes for easier identification. (Note: You will also be using these shapes in later lessons.) Either with an adult or with other children, have child stand with shapes spread out near his/her feet.

Sing and dance the "Hokey Pokey" with the shapes, having the child pick up the shape and then dance with it. Call the shape out before each verse.
Example

Adult says: "Triangle!"

Child(ren) pick(s) up triangle

All sing: "You put your triangle in, you put your triangle out. You put your triangle in and you shake it all about. You do the Hokey Pokey, and you turn yourself around. That's what it's all about!"

Adult says: "Pentagon!"

Child(ren) pick(s) up pentagon

All sing: "You put your pentagon in, you put your pentagon out. You put your pentagon in and you shake it all about. You do the Hokey Pokey, and you turn yourself around. That's what it's all about!"

You may also allow the children to take turns calling the shapes.

Lesson 4: Drawing and coloring with shapes

Materials

Examples of Kandinsky paintings

Crayons, markers, or watercolors

Shapes used for the Hokey Pokey

Large sheet of drawing paper

Show the student images of Kandinsky paintings on the Internet. Here are a few examples

If possible, print them in color or check out a book of Kandinsky's paintings from the library. Have the student identify as many shapes as he/she can find in the paintings, creating a tally chart of how many times each shape was used by writing tally marks on the shapes used for the Hokey Pokey.

Have the student lay the shapes out on the floor or a table in order of most used. Using crayon, marker or watercolor, have the student create his/her own "Kandinsky" imitation, using at least one of each shape learned.

Lesson 5: Shape walk

Take the student on a "shape walk" to find shapes in and around the house/classroom/school.

After the shape walk, reflect on the shapes that were easiest to find and those that were hardest to find, using questions such as:

Are there more circles inside or outside?

Are there more squares or circles? Why is that?

How did what was found outside match the tallies from the Kandinsky paintings?

If desired, have the student create a new drawing that reflects the shapes as found on the walk. If lots of circles were found, have lots of circles in the drawing. No trapezoids? Leave those out. Now you both have a visual representation of the shape walk results.

You may want to introduce the Shape Hunt Chant developed by the International Reading Association/National Council of Teachers of English. Here's a printable copy of this copyrighted material here (it's OK to reproduce it for educational purposes).

Extension
Picture Yourself with Shapes

Take pictures of the student with shapes he/she finds, then put the pictures in an inexpensive photo album.

To make this more interesting, make it a scavenger hunt in which students try to get pictures of themselves with the most interesting shapes. They should not create the shapes, but rather discover them.

To extend this activity, have the student invite family or friends take pictures of themselves with shapes to send to the student.

More Fun Online

Assessment

Since this is a Kindergarten-level activity, this assessment is skills-based, rather than grade-based.

This series of lessons was designed to meet the needs of gifted children for extension beyond the standard curriculum with the greatest ease of use for the educator. The lessons may be given to the students for individual self-guided work, or they may be taught in a classroom or a home-school setting. Assessment strategies and rubrics are included at the end of each section. The rubrics often include a column for "scholar points," which are invitations for students to extend their efforts beyond that which is required, incorporating creativity or higher level technical skills.

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Download the PDF version of this lesson plan. Shape cut-outs are included. The ability to accurately identify shapes is a foundational mathematical skill, and it is quite rewarding for children because their world is full of shapes.

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This website will be helpful for educators to utilize in the classroom so that their students may explore geometric shapes through various hands-on games and activities; all the while putting their little minds to work.

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Hey friends! Super excited to be blogging about our latest happenings in the classroom! Ev-er-y night I tell myself I MUST blog, but yeah you know life usually has other plans! I love sharing ideas because I am so thankful for all of the ideas I've found from other great teachers like yourselves 🙂 I tend to want to explain every last detail so that's what usually delays my timely posts...so here it goes!

We started our shape unit right after Christmas break. Something new this year was that we introduced 3-D shapes first. Sure we have talked about shapes, but did not have the "real" shape talk until after break. We follow Math in Focus and they pace out 3D shapes first. To be honest I was completely surprised and really doubted that this would be successful. However, like always I was excited to give it a try and I trust that my team of great teachers can always pull our "we know best" card if necessary. I knew I should have never doubted, because these little ones never let me down. Of course, they excelled right away with the 3D shapes and actually have picked them up way faster then any other year. Could it be that we introduced them first...maybe? Or, it could be that they are just awesome like that 😛

I will try to explain any and all activities we did and of course like always never leave you hanging as to where I got it and where you can snag it too!

The first day of the unit I began introducing 3D shapes by showing the kiddos real world objects that represent 3D shapes. I had a party hat, cylinder, ball, and a dot cube. I also had my standard wooden 3 shapes. I sported the party hat for the remainder of the lesson and that always seem to be the one they remember most HA! Also, I informed the kiddos to ask their parents if they can jump in the spheres the next time they are at Burger King. We also charted our 3D shape attributes.

The below shape poster ideas as well as MANY other fantastic shape ideas come from The KindergartenKindergarten blog! A must view for shape ideas as well as many others! 🙂 She offers excellent shapes idea like journaling, problem solving, a 3D shape museum, and more.

We spent a couple of days on just basic introduction to 3D shapes. We then moved on to solid verse flat surfaces and looking at the flat surfaces of 3D shapes.

On this day the students traced flat surfaces of the 3D shapes so they could determine what flat shape of each 3d shape, if one.

We also used our 3D shapes to see which shapes could roll, stack, and slide. This is another awesome idea from KindergartenKindergarten. The students worked collarbortively to determine which shapes could do each. They tested their shapes using a "ramp." KindergartenKindergarten also provides the great recording sheet as well.

The following activity comes from a great K-1 geometry resource, Getting Into Geometry! You can click below to view the book.

In this activity students had shapes they had to experiment with in combination to see if they could be stacked. The kiddos were able to use hands on exploration skills as well as making educated guesses ahead of time as to what would work and what would not.

Continuing with flat shapes the kiddos used pattern blocks to fill in pattern block puzzles. These puzzles came from Investigations. I did not teach Investigations as it was transitioned out the year I started. However, the veteran teachers had great instinct as what to keep for future use.

We also took the time for a classroom shape exploration. The students were able to find items within our classroom that represented each shape. They then colored those items into the shape on their papers. Their ideas were endless....after all shapes make up everything!

As a cumulative acitivty the kiddos will be writing about and describing each 3D shapes. I think it is very important that students are able to explain what they've learned within their own words. I feel that I am the same about learning new things...I love to take notes, write lists because it helps with my memory in so many ways!

These 3D shape sheets are PERFECT for that. You can download them as a freebie from KindergartenKindergarten as well.

Also, you can't leave a unit without a little fun...these adorable shape penguins are a freebie from the creative Miss Kindergarten Love! They went along perfect with our shapes unit and our penguin close read {more on this later at the end of the week}.

No learning experience is complete without some videos...here are our favorites!

Below are a view 2D and 3D shape extras!

Freebie 2D shape hunt and Building with 3D shapes practice pages/assessments.

I also have a couple of shape packets if you are needing posters or quick activities!
Click below to view the packets on TpT!

Have a great remainder of your week! I will be back soon with our latest close read!

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Teaching Shapes in Kindergarten! - Little Minds at Work

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Hey friends! Super excited to be blogging about our latest happenings in the classroom! Ev-er-y night I tell myself I MUST blog, but yeah you know life usually has other plans! I love sharing ideas because I am so thankful for all of the ideas I've found from other great teachers like yourselves 🙂 I ...

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This image is an example of how the students could explore making their own two-dimensional shapes using something as simple as Popsicle sticks.

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This image is an example of the types of worksheets that can be given to Kindergarten students to complete to visually distinguish between their shapes based upon only one attribute (how many sides the shapes have).

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color by sides shapes worksheet - Google Search

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This info-graphic reveals an example of a classroom chart that can be created and put on display defining and organizing both two and three-dimensional shapes. This can be useful in order for the students to collectively address the differences as well as any similarities between basic geometric shapes.

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This image reveals just what can be done and created by Kindergarteners who have geometric manipulatives at their disposal. Using something like this can cause the shapes to come alive.

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This YouTube video provides students with a catchy and memorable song to easily recall the names of basic geometric shapes; and it is a song that is sure to be thoroughly enjoyed by all.

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A shapes song for children. If this video corrupts, please try the link below. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1xvpti6h0A This song was written and performed by A.J. Jenkins. Video by KidsTV123. Copyright 2011 A.J. Jenkins/KidsTV123: All rights reserved This is an ORIGINAL song written in 2011 - any copying is illegal.

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This YouTube video addresses the various three-dimensional shapes and their attributes so that the young students may visually and auditorily see the differences between those types of shapes firsthand.

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Learn about 3D shapes with Choo-Choo Train - part 1. Educational cartoon for children grade 1

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Learn about 3D shapes with Choo-Choo train in our educational cartoon (part 1) for preschoolers and children of grade 1. In this video Choo-Choo train carries 3d shapes (also called geometric solids) to the same construction site as we've seen in the previous cartoon about 2D shapes.

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The following post can be used to teach Kindergartners their two and three-dimensional shapes as well as the similarities and differences between them. This post is also based upon the following Kindergarten Common Core Standards: CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.K.G.A.2: Correctly name shapes regardless of their orientations or overall size. CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.K.G.B.4: Analyze and compare two and three-dimensional shapes, in different sizes and orientations, using informal language to describe their similarities, differences, parts (e.g., number of sides and vertices/“corners”) and other attributes (e.g., having sides of equal length).                                               *The overall theme for the following group of resources is teaching geometric shapes to Kindergarteners as well as the various attributes that makes each shape unique*: 

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The following post can be used to teach Kindergartners their two and three-dimensional shapes as well as the similarities and differences between them. This post is also based upon the following Kindergarten Common Core Standards: CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.K.G.A.2: Correctly name shapes regardless of their orientations or overall size. CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.K.G.B.4: Analyze and compare two and three-dimensional shapes, in different sizes and orientations, using informal language to describe their similarities, differences, parts (e.g., number of sides and vertices/“corners”) and other attributes (e.g., having sides of equal length).                                               *The overall theme for the following group of resources is teaching geometric shapes to Kindergarteners as well as the various attributes that makes each shape unique*: 

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This YouTube video addresses the various two-dimensional shapes and their attributes so that the students can visually and auditorily see the differences between those types of shapes firsthand.

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паровозик чух-чух

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Learn 2D shapes with Choo-Choo Train part 1. Shapes for kids (kindergarten and students of grade 1).

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Learn about 2D shapes with Choo-Choo Train part 1 is an educational interactive cartoon for young children (preschoolers and elementary school students). Choo-Choo the train carries 2D shapes in his cars. Learn their names and properties. We are going to count the number of angles and see the difference between each shape.