How to Help Children Learn the

SHAPES (and REMEMBER Them!)

Posted By Heidi  on July 25, 2014
 
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Learning to identify the basic shapes can be a challenge for many young
children.  Even after being told the names of the shapes many times, children
often confuse one shape with another, or forget some of their names entirely!
This leaves teachers and parents puzzled; why in the world is this so hard
when it seems like it should be so easy?

Skills Children Need to Identify the

Shapes
There are a few basic skills that must be in place before children are going to
be able to master shape, letter, or number identification.  Without each of
these skills, children will probably make limited progress in mastering the
shapes- OR, they will seem to learn them, and then shortly thereafter forget
them.

1.  Visual Perception

One of the most important skills necessary for shape, letter, and number
identification is visual perception.  Visual perception is what allows you to tell
the difference between a square and a rectangle, an oval and a circle, or a
letter C and a letter O.  Basically, if a child’s eyes can’t “see” the difference
between the shapes yet, then no amount of drill and practice will change
this.  Developmental Optometrists do vision therapy with children that have
severe problems in this area that affect their academic achievement, but the
average child will not need professional help; he will simply develop the visual
perception that he needs with time and practice.
 

One way to find out if a child can see the difference between a square and a
rectangle is to show them both shapes, and ask them if they are the same or
different.  (But make sure the child understands the words “same” and
“different!” first!)  If the child sees no difference, then you’ll need to simply
practice helping the child identify the differences between the two shapes by
asking, “How is this shape different from that one?”  Help the child “notice”
that the rectangle has two long sides and two short ones, and that an oval
looks “squished” rather than perfectly round, etc.  Have the child try to
describe these differences aloud, and practice sorting paper or plastic toy
shapes into groups, saying the name of each shape as he goes.

 
Children also benefit from copying, drawing and building the shapes with
sticks, Legos, blocks, or other types of building materials.  This can help them
understand what the difference is in each one as well.  There are some shape
copying pages on my blog post here that are free to download if you would
like to try this.

2.  Visual Memory

There is a certain amount of simple memorization required in learning the

names of the shapes, as well as in learning the numbers and letters.
Sometimes, children will seem to have learned the names of the shapes, but
then when retested a few months later in the year, many of them
have forgotten them (especially the children from lower socio-economic
families.)  I think that this is probably due to lack of USE.

People remember information and vocabulary that is USEFUL to them,

and tend to forget information whatever is not.  When teachers move on to
new skills and leave the study of the shapes behind, children may forget them
if parents do not refer to them by name fairly often at home.  And research
shows us that lower socio-economic parents tend to use academic vocabulary
less frequently at home than their higher socio-economic parenting peers.
 

So what can parents and teachers do to solve this problem?  Make sure
that you refer to the shapes often and make knowing them necessary
and useful to the children.  Example: “Leon, please sit down on the
spot with the red triangle on it.”  “Angela, the pencils marked with a yellow
rectangle are for the girls today.  Tomorrow the girls will get the pencils with
the blue squares.”  “Gage, would you like to wear the shirt with the gray ovals
on it, or the one with Spiderman in the rectangle today?”
 

These are removable “Sit Spots” shapes that stick to the carpet because they
are made of a very durable Velcro type of material. Children can be assigned
a shape to sit on each day so that they need to find it and practice telling their
teacher or friend what shape they are sitting on each day. (FYI, I do get
commissions for the SitSpot links mentioned in this post!)

I always use music and movement to help my students remember the shapes!
The Jumpin’ Numbers and Shakin’ Shapes cards make a huge difference in
my students’ ability to remember the shapes because of the movements that
are integrated into each lesson.  Each time a child sees a shape (or a
number,) they respond by making a motion and saying the name of that
number or shape.  It’s quick and easy, and when combined with the music,
the children really love the lesson! Check out the video below.

This is what the DVD with the music for the Colors & Shapes looks like:
 

3.  Language
Children are much more likely to really learn and internalize the shapes and
their differences if they are given the opportunity to practice describing them.
Just the act of SAYING what they see and putting it into words makes a big
difference!  For example, ask a child:

– “How do you know that this is a triangle?  How do you know that it is NOT a
square?”  (Possible answer:  I know it’s a triangle because it has three sides.
It couldn’t be a square because squares have four sides.”)
– “How many corners does this shape have?  Tell me in a complete
sentence.”  (Possible answer:  This shape has three corners.  Hey, that’s a
triangle!”)
– “What shape is that door?  How do you know?”

 
 Children remember more when they have a chance to describe what they know. So ask
them to put it into words, either to you or to each other!
 

NOW PULL IT ALL TOGETHER!   Have Them Build Those Shapes and
Tell You What They Are!

This is the fun part!  Letting children build shapes is lots of fun, and kids
generally love it!  Last year, I did it with craft sticks in two different sizes (mini
and standard sized) and let the kids stick them together with modeling clay.
This worked great for all of the shapes except for the circle and the oval.  For
that, they would need to either draw them or build them with yarn, or use
blocks designed especially for the purpose of constructing shapes.

These children are building hexagons with craft sticks.

 

We did this in small groups.  First, I had them build the shapes flat on the
table with NO clay.  This saved us time, because sticking the clay onto the
ends proved a little bit difficult for some.  After we made some shapes
and discussed the differences, I showed them how to make those same
shapes and connect the sticks with modeling clay.

I also had one 3-dimensional cube already made for them to see.  This was
done at the end of the year, so the children had already been introduced to
the volume shapes.

 
 When you give children the chance to build something harder, they often can surprise you!
 

In my opinion, a Kindergartner that has mastered the shapes can:

– Identify a shape on a flash card by telling you the name without hesitation
– Describe it
– Build it
– Explain why it is NOT one of the other shapes
– And older children in first and second grade must start to tell you how many
vertices (corners) and angles each one has as well!  So children that are
advanced can begin working on that!
And don’t forget our 15% off sale going on right now, and ending on
July 31st, 2014!  Use the code JULY14 at checkout on HeidiSongs.com.

Other HeidiSongs resources for practicing shapes include:

Shape Creatures Worksheets

Dinosaurs & Robots Pattern Blocks Activity

The Shape Song & Singable Book Project

The Colors & Shapes DVD

Jumpin’ Numbers & Shakin’ Shapes CD/DVD

Jumpin’ Numbers & Shakin’ Shapes Bingo Game

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