Teaching Shapes to 2-3 yr old

[Lorina]

The best way to teach anything to your group of children (2-3 yr olds) is through song. Here is a few songs about circles, that you can sing during group time, with the children.

(to the tune of: "If You're Happy and You Know It")

A circle is a shape that goes round.
A circle is a shape that goes round.
A circle is a shape that goes round,
And round and round.
A circle is a shape that goes round.


Draw a circle on the ground and have the children go around it singing:

Tiptoe slowly on the circle and go round.
Tiptoe slowly on the circle and go round.
Tiptoe slowly on the circle,
And go round and round and round.
Tiptoe slowly on the circle and go round.

Sammy Square:

Sammy Square is my name.
My four sides are just the same.
Turn me around, I don't care.
I'm always the same.
I'm Sammy Square.

Right Circle, Left Square:

Close my eyes, shut them tight,
Make a circle with my right.
Keep them shut, make it fair,
With my left hand, make a square.

Ricky Rectangle:

Ricky Rectangle is my name.
My four sides are not the same.
2 are short and 2 are long.
Count my sides, come right along.
1, 2, 3, 4.

Once the children know the lyrics, it really helps them to recognize and name shapes...

Cheers ,
L.A.

[catchmeifucan]

These shape songs are great! I have an activity you could do with your group of kids, regarding shapes:

Cut out and laminate different shapes (triangle, circle, rectangle etc). Set them up on a table and have the children put pegs around each of the shapes. This activity also helps with fine motor and shape recognition.

You just need to constantly talk about shapes throughout the day (I wonder what that shape is, where can I find a triangle), soon enough the children will pick up on it!

[marj]

The best way to teach anything to your group of children (2-3 yr olds) is through song. Here is a few songs about circles, that you can sing during group time, with the children.

(to the tune of: "If You're Happy and You Know It")

A circle is a shape that goes round.
A circle is a shape that goes round.
A circle is a shape that goes round,
And round and round.
A circle is a shape that goes round.


Draw a circle on the ground and have the children go around it singing:

Tiptoe slowly on the circle and go round.
Tiptoe slowly on the circle and go round.
Tiptoe slowly on the circle,
And go round and round and round.
Tiptoe slowly on the circle and go round.

Hope this helps you out!

Hey great songs!

[Lorina]

Hey,

Revising shapes with my preschoolers the other day and I just happen to make this one up on the spot...

Thought I'd share it...

A triangle has 3 sides, has 3 sides, has 3 sides
A triangle has 3 sides, just you wait and see..
Up the mountain, down and back, down and back, down and back.
Up the mountain, down and back
A triangle has 3 sides you see..

Cheers ,
L.A.

[jane]

Hi Just a few tips about teaching 2-3 year old shapes. Just remember not a biggie!! Most children will learn their shapes before school and will show interest when they are ready. If you really want to teach shapes at this young age, I feel the best strategy is doing it as an everyday experience. When you are out in the yard a child might find a leaf, you could discuss the shape and texture, this would offer a more concrete learning experience where the child has shown interest first. Another example could be when a child plays with blocks you could discuss shapes then or in a small group environment reading a story and point out shapes etc.. Utilising children's interests could be advantage too example; a child might like sailboating and you could ask the parents to bring in a real life photo discussing the shapes of the sails on the boat etc involving parents as well. Just a few tips, Ta J

[rikkay85]

Twinkle twinkle a good song. One of kids out of the 2 to 3 room had been requesting twinkle twinkle the last few days and today he ask me to draw a diamond.
Another song is a circle like i ball
A circle like a ball
A circle like a ball
round and round
and round again
A circle is like a ball
When playing with cars talk about the wheels being circle, get the kids to create shapes with hands diamond,triangle circle

[Lorina]

Great idea Rikkay, to get the children to use their hands to form the shapes

Cheers ,
L.A

[WinP]

you could make puppet show using shape...

[fchaudari76]

I used to do (when I did teach toddlers) matching shapes
I had laminated cards with colours and shapes and I used to get the kids to point to eg "circle" then they had to go get the matching card which I had stuck up the wall (along with the other shapes)
in time I could just say can you get me the circle and off they would go and get it

BTW: whats with the Nanny post in the middle of a teaching shapes post???

[Lorina]

BTW: whats with the Nanny post in the middle of a teaching shapes post???

Good eyes FeFe!! Thanks for letting us know... It's a spam & we had missed that one! That post has now been deleted.

Cheers ,
L.A

[Miss T]

Hi there,

2-3 year olds are in my opinion best age to teach... definitely do songs about shapes as the other posts have said.
My opinion on this would to incorporate shapes in every thing you do and name it as it is- so children will mimick you and can recognise the shape to the name.1 of my focus kids doesn't speak english at all and now she point at objects and name them so proud of her!

Hope that helps

Miss T

[mandycane]

I agree that songs are the way to go when teaching children shapes. At my preschool, we use a variety of songs. We have been using Delmore and the shapes, which was just made available on the Internet (Toddler World TV). We that song, we had the kids act like shapes and it was a lot of fun. Another good one is the shapes collection by the Busy Beavers.
Cheers, Mandy

[daddymarkus]

One trick I did was to have a poster with all the basic shapes and then help my toddler identify which shapes are certain objects. For example, we go to the poster with a ball in hand and then I'll ask him what shape it is. He eventually got the hang of it immediately!