Advanced Toddler Shapes

My daughter learned her shapes very early.  Many parents teach their children shapes before kindergarten and it seems to be a subject that interests them.  Many parents ask me what to work on next once the child has mastered the basic shapes.  Once your child knows the basic shapes ie square, circle, triangle, rectangle, diamond, heart, and oval have them identify attributes of the shapes.  How many corners? How many sides? Is it flat or round?  Will it stack or roll?  Identifying attributes of these shapes will allow them to identify new shapes faster.  After that, introduce the next level of shapes ie crescent, pentagon, hexagon, heptagon, octagon, rhombus, parallelogram. Then you can introduce more specific shapes such as the different kinds of triangles.
OK. I am aware of how totally crazy it sounds that I'm teaching my three year old the difference between an isosceles and scalene triangle, but it's not as nuts as it sounds.  It started with an app called Toddler Teasers. The app offers a variety of subject matter from such as animals, camping, fractions, shapes, and numbers with different levels of difficulty from square and circle to scalene triangle.  I set the game to advanced and selected only shapes.  I hadn't paid attention to what would be taught in the advanced level, but I knew she mastered the level she was on so why not?  One day I notice she's playing the game and identifying the different kinds of triangles.  It teaches scalene, isosceles, right, and equilateral triangles.

As always I created a lesson to reinforce learning.

First game- Eat Me a Triangle

1) Pick out different foods that are straight: pretzel rods, yogurt tubes, granola bars, fruit twists, whatever.  Open it or leave it in the packaging.
2) Draw and identify the different triangles for your child describing the attributes.
3)Then ask them to form a triangle using the food.  If they get it right then can eat it!

If the different triangles are a new concept. Try giving hints.  For example, if you have an equilateral triangle you could tell them they need three foods the same length.  For a scalene, they need three different lengths.


Second Game- Paint Me a Triangle

Same procedure as Eat Me a Triangle but with paint.  Draw three lines making four columns on the paper. Draw the triangle and write the word for each. Paint a triangle yourself. Point out attributes. Have the child copy.  Show how the isosceles looks like a Christmas tree, the scalene a mountain, a square can be drawn in the corner of the right triangle, an equilateral has three side the same like the instrument the triangle.

Third Game-  Triangles in Motion

I gave Aly some saying with motion to remember the triangles.  We scale the scalene triangles and pretend to  climb a triangle mountain.  We make an isosceles tunnel with our legs being the long sides and the floor the short.  Crawl through each others tunnels.  I have to admit, I don't really crawl.  I basically lay still while she walks over me, but she still finds it hilarious.  I make an equilateral triangle with my arms and chest.  I make a right triangle with my upper arm being the bottom line, lower wrist to elbow the vertical line, and my other arm the diagonal.  Then I say, "I like my triangles right."  I move one of my arms up and down like a gate opening and closing as she runs past.

That concludes today's post.  Tell me in the comment section how your child likes to learn shapes.