shapes recognition activities

10 Hands-On Shapes Recognition Activities for Preschoolers

By: Author Tanja McIlroy

Posted on Last updated: 15 May 2024

Categories Early Numeracy

Teaching children about shapes should be a fun, hands-on experience. It is by experiencing concepts through the body and the senses that real learning happens in the early years.

Scroll down to the section ‘10 simple shapes recognition activities’ for some great ideas.

Why is it Important to Learn About Shapes?

An important part of child development, shape recognition is about more than just being able to spot the basic shapes. It’s important for building early maths , reading and other areas too.

Shapes are found all around us and take many different forms, both two-dimensional and three-dimensional.

Children learn that shapes have properties – such as lines, curves, sizes, lengths and positions in space , and that all physical objects have shape. 

They develop their visual perception (when the brain interprets what the eyes see) as they are exposed to shapes around them. 

Shapes are a part of mathematical concepts (like geometry) and are also used in many scientific and technical fields.

The recognition of shapes is crucial for learning to read and building early literacy skills . 

Letters are made up of shapes and children need to learn to distinguish, recognize and remember the specific shapes in order to read fluently. Shapes are the first ‘symbols’ children learn to interpret. [ source ]

How Do You Teach Shape Recognition?

The best way for children to learn about shapes is through play. They need many opportunities to touch and see three-dimensional shapes in their daily lives.

These concepts can also be taught through shape recognition games and activities that are planned specifically to introduce the concept of shape.

Activities like tracing and worksheets are best kept for much older children as these are unlikely to hold a child’s attention for long, and they are not really meaningful to a young child.

It is more important to focus on doing hands-on activities during preschool so that a child fully understands the properties of shapes by experiencing them with their body and all their senses .

It is also important for parents and teachers to actively teach the vocabulary about shapes. They need to hear concepts such as:

• Straight lines or curvy lines
• Size – bigger, smaller, longer, etc.
• Round, pointy
• 2-dimensional, 3-dimensional
• The names of shapes – oval, rectangle, triangular prism

This can be done in natural ways during a conversation:

• Is your dinner plate round? 
• What else is round in our house?
• This picture of a tent looks like a triangle – it’s pointy at the top.

When teaching the shapes, remember children learn these in a concrete-pictorial-abstract way, as they do many other concepts. 

They learn the shape of a physical object, and then later learn to associate a picture of a shape with the physical object. After that, they can recognize an abstract representation of a shape.

An example of this is playing with a beach ball and learning that it is round; then understanding that a picture of a ball represents a round, circular shape; then identifying a simple circle drawn on paper.

10 Simple Shapes Recognition Activities and Games

Here are some simple shape activities to try at home or school.

1. Shape Sorting

Sorting is an important mental concept and it’s easy to do with shapes.

Provide a container of shapes – cutouts, wooden or plastic shapes – and get kids to sort them according to different criteria. 

Here are some examples:

• Shapes with straight edges vs shapes with curved edges
• Shapes with 3 sides and shapes with 4 sides
• Shapes with corners and shapes without corners
• 2D vs 3D shapes

Here are more fun sorting activities for preschoolers .

2. Body Shapes

Play a movement game with shapes. Say the name of a shape and ask children to make the shape with their bodies. 

Get them to straighten up into a tall rectangle, puff their arms out to the side to make themselves round, stand with legs far apart and arms pointed above you to make a triangle, etc.

Before you show or help with ideas, see if the kids can figure out on their own how to make these shapes. They may think outside the box and find new ways to make the shapes. 

This is a great activity for body awareness .

3. Block and Ball Play

Children need regular exposure to shapes by playing with blocks, balls and other toys during their free play time.

This is an activity that doesn’t need much regulation by an adult but is as important as planned shapes activities.

4. Playdough Shapes

Give kids playdough and shape cutters and let them explore different shapes this way.

Make a batch of easy homemade playdough and this will keep kids occupied for hours.

If you don’t have cutters in the form of shapes, then improvise with tins (round), plastic containers (square and rectangle), etc.

5. Yummy Shapes

For a tastier version of the above activity – that will leave a bigger imprint on kids’ memory – make shapes out of cookie dough and then eat them after!

6. Find the Shapes

Show children an example of a simple shape, such as a circle, and challenge them to find as many items as they can around them that have the same shape. (Here are more games about circles to try).

They could also draw pictures of all the things they can think of that have a circle shape.

This teaches kids that shapes are part of their world.

7. Build With Shapes

If you have plastic or wooden shapes that are relatively flat, let kids ‘build’ pictures out of them using the shapes. 

They could construct a house or a person, for example, by learning to use the shapes to substitute the various parts they need.

These shapes can also be made out of cardboard.

8. Feel the Shape

Use the same shapes from the activity above to do a sensory activity.

Blindfold a child, then give him a shape or ask him to pick a shape out of a bag. He must describe the shape (it is round and has no straight edges), then say what the shape is. 

If he guesses right, he can keep the shape. If not, it goes back into the bag. This can be turned into a game to see how many shapes each person can accumulate.

9. Shape Stamping

Provide poster paints on trays and get kids to stamp shapes onto them.

Use blocks for these shapes or make potato prints , sponge shapes, etc. Use your imagination.

10. Shape Pictures

A fun art activity, this can be attempted after children have had ample opportunity to make shape pictures out of real shapes. 

Provide lots of pre-cut paper shapes in various colours, white paper and glue.

Get kids to make their own shape pictures. Let them use their creativity and do not try to guide their creations. 

Definitely don’t give them a model to copy! This should be a form of process art , where the learning is in the doing, not the final product.

Are you a preschool teacher or working in Early Childhood Education? Would you like to receive regular emails with useful tips and play-based activity ideas to try with your children? Sign up for the newsletter!

If you are looking for more creative art ideas, try these shape crafts for preschoolers .

“ Learning Through Play: A parent’s guide to the first five years ” , written by Jan Natanson.

“ Language and School Readiness ” , written by Martie Pieterse.

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25 Creative Activities and Ideas For Learning Shapes

Triangles, circles, and squares… oh, my!

Learning shapes is one of the earliest concepts we teach kids. This readies them for geometry in the years ahead, but it’s also an important skill for learning how to write and draw. We’ve rounded up our favorite activities for learning shapes, both 2-D and 3-D. They all work well in the classroom or at home.

1. Start with an anchor chart

Colorful anchor charts like these are terrific reference tools for kids learning shapes. Have kids help you come up with examples for each one.

Learn more: A Spoonful of Learning / Kindergarten Kindergarten

2. Sort items by shape

Collect items from around the classroom or house, then sort them by their shapes. This is a fun way for kids to realize that the world around them is full of circles, squares, triangles, and more.

Learn more: Busy Toddler/Shape-Sorting

3. Snack on some shapes

Everyone loves a learning activity you can eat! Some food items are already the perfect shape; for others, you’ll have to get a little creative.

Learn more: Chieu Anh Urban

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4. Print with shape blocks

Grab your shape blocks and some washable paint, then stamp shapes to form a design or picture.

Learn more: Pocket of Preschool

5. Go on a shape hunt

These “magnifying glasses” make an adventure of learning shapes! Tip: Laminate them for long-term use.

Learn more: Nurture Store UK

6. Hop along a shape maze

Use sidewalk chalk to lay out a shape maze on the playground or driveway. Choose a shape and hop from one to the next, or call out a different shape for every jump!

Learn more: Creative Family Fun

7. Assemble a truck from shapes

Cut out a variety of shapes (excellent scissors skills practice!), then assemble a series of trucks and other vehicles.

Learn more: Little Family Fun

8. Stretch out shapes on geoboards

Teachers and kids love geoboards , and they’re a great tool for learning shapes. Give students example cards to follow, or ask them to figure out the method on their own.

Learn more: Mrs. Jones’ Creation Station

9. Drive on shaped roads

Use these free printable road mats to work on shapes. Bonus: Make your own road shapes from sentence strips!

Learn more: PK Preschool Mom

10. Find shapes in nature

Take your shape hunt outside and look for circles, rectangles, and more in nature. For another fun activity, gather items and use them to make shapes too.

11. Put together craft stick shapes

Add Velcro dots to the ends of wood craft sticks for quick and easy math toys. Write the names of each shape on the sticks for a self-correcting center activity.

Learn more: Surviving a Teacher’s Salary

12. Blow 3-D shape bubbles

This is a STEM activity that’s sure to fascinate everyone. Make 3-D shapes from straws and pipe cleaners, then dip them in a bubble solution to create tensile bubbles. So cool!

Learn more: Babble Dabble Do

13. Prep a shape pizza

Cover a paper plate “pizza” with lots of shape toppings, then count the number of each. Simple, but lots of fun and very effective.

Learn more: Mrs. Thompson’s Treasures

14. Construct shapes from toothpicks and Play-Doh

This is an excellent STEM challenge: how many shapes can you make using toothpicks and Play-Doh? Marshmallows work well for this activity too.

Learn more: Childhood 101

15. Outline shapes with stickers

Kids adore stickers, so they’ll enjoy filling in the outlines of the shapes they’re learning. They won’t realize it, but this gives them fine motor skills practice too!

Learn more: Busy Toddler/Sticker Shapes

16. Lace shapes

Lacing cards have long been a classic, but we really like this version that uses drinking straws. Just cut them into pieces and glue them along the edges of the cards.

Learn more: Planning Playtime

17. Make shapes with LEGO bricks

LEGO math is always a winner! This activity also makes a good STEM challenge. Can your students figure out how to make a circle from straight-sided blocks?

18. Categorize shapes by their attributes

Work on geometry terms like “sides” and “vertices” when you sort shapes using these attributes. Start by placing shapes into paper bags and asking students questions like, “The shape in this bag has 4 sides. What could it be?”

Learn more: Susan Jones Teaching

19. Count and graph shapes

These free printable worksheets challenge kids to identify shapes, then count and graph them. Lots of math skills, all in one!

Learn more: Playdough to Plato

20. Create a shape monster

Add arms, legs, and faces to create cheery (or scary) shape monsters! These make for a fun classroom display.

Learn more: Fantastic Fun and Learning

21. Sift through rice for shapes

Sure, kids can identify their shapes by sight, but what about by touch? Bury blocks in a bowl of rice or sand, then have kids dig them out and guess the shape without seeing them first.

Learn more: Fun With Mama

22. Craft an ice cream cone

Ice cream cones are made up of several shapes. Encourage kids to see how many different ways they can make a sphere of “ice cream.”

Learn more: Extremely Good Parenting

23. Ask “What does the shape say?”

If you don’t mind the risk of getting that song stuck in your kids’ heads, this is such a neat way to combine writing and math.

Learn more: Around the Kampfire

24. Piece together shape puzzles

Use wood craft sticks to make simple puzzles for kids who are learning their shapes. These are inexpensive enough that you can make full sets for each of your students.

Learn more: Toddler at Play

25. Feed a shape monster

Turn paper bags into shape-eating monsters, then let kids fill their hungry bellies!

Learn more: Teach Pre-K

From teaching shapes to long division and everything in between, these are the 25 Must-Have Elementary Classroom Math Supplies You Can Count On .

Plus, 22 Active Math Games and Activities For Kids Who Love to Move .

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Shapes Activities for Preschoolers

One of the first math concepts that preschoolers learn is identifying shapes . They begin to distinguish among the different shapes and categorize items according to shape. They learn the names of shapes and their characteristics. They find shapes in everyday items. This collection of shape activities for preschoolers can lead preschoolers to explore shapes in all kinds of ways.

These activities will help your preschoolers learn their shapes. These shape activities for toddlers, will work in your preschool classroom and your kindergarten classroom.

1. Road Shapes with Cars (Pre-K Pages) – 22 printable road shape mats to help your litte learners identify shapes.

2. Making Shapes with Play Dough (Pre-K Pages) – A fun, hands-on playful learning experience that uses play dough to teach shapes!

3. Pattern Block Shapes (Pre-K Pages) – Pattern blocks can actually help your little learners build a strong foundation for learning geometry later.

4. Making Shapes with Geoboards (Pre-K Pages) – If you haven’t tried geoboard activities in your classroom yet, your kids are going to  love  them!

5. Create a Shapes Photo Book (Pre-K Pages) – To introduce shape concepts to my son, I grabbed the book So Many Circles, So Many Squares from our library as the anchor to our learning ship. Using this book, we went on a shape scavenger hunt and made a fun shape keepsake.

6. Perfect Square Shapes Art (Pre-K Pages) – This Perfect Square art activity is so easy to set up and totally open-ended. It goes perfectly with the book and would be an excellent addition to a  shapes  unit.

7. Building Shapes with Craft Sticks (Pre-K Pages) – Pair this activity with the book  Shapes, Shapes, Shapes  by Tana Hoban and you’ve got the perfect low-prep shapes lesson!

8. Teaching 3D Shapes (Pre-K Pages) – Here are some of my favorite ideas for teaching 3D shapes to young children in pre-k or kindergarten. I also wrote some very simple 3D shape songs for you that incorporate hands on learning; keep reading to download the 3D shapes printable song charts.

9. Nature Shape Scavenger Hunt (Pre-K Pages) – A Star in My Orange  is a great way to reinforce shape recognition with your preschoolers. They will also immediately want to run outside for their very own shapes scavenger hunt in nature!

10. The Shape of Things Chalk Drawings (Pre-K Pages) – Shapes are found, identified, and drawn in all preschool classrooms! Discovering just how often circles, squares, and triangles occur in our everyday life make them relevant to children.

11. Shape Wands (Pre-K Pages) – Make some shape wands and turn your home or classroom into the perfect place for kids to learn and identify shapes.

12. Shape Exploration (Pre-K Pages) – After reading the wonderful book  Mouse Shapes  by Ellen Walsh , I thought it would be fun to make a mouse that could be used in a shape game. The mice in the book explore  shapes  so, why shouldn’t we?

13. Make a Tortilla Shape Snack (Pre-K Pages) – We have the perfect recipe for exploring a math concept. Read aloud one great children’s book. Make a healthy and yummy treat. Combine the two together and you have a lesson on  shapes .

14. Shapes Word Chart (Pre-K Pages) – This word chart focused on  shapes  but you can make a word chart for any topic.

15. “I Have Who Has” Shapes Game (Prekinders) – You may have seen the “I Have, Who Has” card games circulating the internet a lot lately, so this is a fun twist for Pre-K to teach shapes.

16. Games and Activities for Teaching Shapes (Prekinders) – Here are a fun few ways to teaching shapes, like shape bingo and a memory game.

17. Tracing Shapes on the Flannel Board (Teach Preschool) – A wonderful way to introduce letters and shapes while building pre-writing skills!

18. Hunting for Shapes (Teach Preschool) -Explore shapes with a fun and interactive game!

19. Exploring Shapes with Blocks on a Table Top (Teach Preschool) –  A simple and engaging exploration of shapes and colors!

20. Learning Shapes by Rolling a Ball (Hands On As We Grow) – Try a fun hands on activity for toddlers for a creative twist to learn shapes!

21. Finding Shapes at the Playground (Buggy and Buddy)- Just print out the free shape hunt printable and go searching for shapes at the playground with this fun geometry activity for children!

22. Geometric Shapes Math Activity (Little Bins for Little Hands) – This simple geometric shapes activity  for kids is easy to do at home or as a math center in school. It also makes a terrific STEAM project including a bit of art and design too.

23. Gruffalo Themed Shape Animals (Educators’ Spin on It) – Exploring shapes with young children can be such fun when you involve a few animal friends from The Gruffalo.

24. Feed the Shape Monster Game (Imagination Tree) – Make a fun activity for preschoolers and school aged kids with this feed the hungry shape monsters sorting game!

25. Sticky Shape Bugs Activity (Mom Inspired Life) –   This was a great way to develop fine motor skills and critical thinking skills while learning about shapes.

26. Learning Shapes with Spaghetti Noodles (Teaching Mama) – Looking for a fun way to teach shapes? Well here’s a very fun way using spaghetti noodles! This hands-on activity also is a great sensory activity.

27. Matching Shapes to Outlines (Busy Toddler) – Create this fun easy DIY shape mat to practice shapes with your preschoolers.

28. Chalk Shapes Jumping Game (Craftulate) – All you need for this shape activity is some sidewalk chalk!

29. Open and Closed Polygons Game (JDaniel4’s Mom) Grab some LEGOs and have fun with these polygon games, like hockey!

30. Shape Sensory Squish Bag (Still Playing School) –  Create this sensory squish bag with triangles, circles, and squares. It’s irresistible to touch and talk about in the window or on the table. It’s super easy to make, too!

31. DIY Shape Puzzles (Munchkins and Moms) – If you have some Jenga blocks and markers, then this easy DIY shape puzzle will be a fun engaging activity for your preschoolers.

32. Stamping Shapes in Kinetic Sand (Still Playing School) – Stamping shapes into kinetic sand is a great opportunity to work on shape identification, count the sides and corners, and compare and contrast the shapes.

33. Making Trucks from Shapes (Powerful Mothering) – Using your wooden blocks to draw and create trucks!

34. DIY Waldorf Square (Rhythms of Play) – An easy DIY toy for kids made with wooden blocks and liquid watercolor paints.

35. Magazine Shape Hunt and Sort (Mom Inspired Life) – This magazine shape hunt is jam-packed with learning! Kids will learn shapes while they practice cutting, gluing and sorting. It’s also an awesome way to work on critical thinking and observation skills.

36. Building Rockets with Shapes (Stir the Wonder) – Building rockets with shapes is a fun way to review shapes and colors with toddlers and preschoolers!

37. Build on Shape Outlines (Brick by Brick) – Use wooden blocks in a new fun way and work on shapes at the same time!

38. Shapes in Our Neighborhood Book (Munchkins and Moms) – Go for a walk and look for shapes in the neighborhood and then create a photo book after!

39. Sorting Shapes in the Sensory Bin (Learning 4 Kids) – Your preschoolers will practice their shapes and fine motor skills while having fun with this shape sensory bin.

40. I Spy Shape Hunt (Munchkins and Moms) – Create these fun easy spy glasses and go on a shape hunt!

2 thoughts on “Shapes Activities for Preschoolers”

I cant find these on your members site.

Hi Stacy, These are free so you can just download them right from Pre-K Pages. With more than 300 free printables at Pre-K Pages I didn’t want to clutter the membership vault with them.

Comments are closed.

25 Shape Activities for Kids

Categories Activities

All of these Shape Activities for Kids introduce toddlers and preschoolers to shapes through play-based learning. 25 ways to recognise, create, and explore basic shapes.

Disclosure: Adult supervision is required for all activities at all times.

If you want to make your Shapes themed lessons a breeze, then check out the Shapes Activity Pack . It’s filled with math and literacy centers, fine motor activities and arts and crafts templates. All of which are aligned with preschool learning standards. Check it out today.

Table of Contents

• Shape arts and crafts
• Shape sensory activities
• Shape STEM activities
• Shape fine motor activities
• Free shape printables

Shape Arts and Crafts for Kids

Block painting.

Blocks come in a variety of shapes. Circles, triangles, squares. Any picture can be broken down into these basic shapes. If your little ones are too young to make an actual picture, don’t worry, it’s still a lot of fun dunking the blocks in the paint and making shapes on a page.

Giant Shape Art for Kids

Giant Shape Art for Kids was a fun way to spend an afternoon with the kids. We used an old cardboard box and painters tape to create some fun tape resist art, exploring and learning all about shapes as we did it. If you’re teaching a toddler or preschool classroom, try this simple art activity, the kids will love it.

Black Glue Shape Art for Kids

Black Glue Shape Art for Kids is all about learning 2D shapes. Toddlers and preschoolers love art ideas for kids that are fun, while parents and teachers love art ideas that are easy and educational. This activity ticks all of those boxes.

Either make single pages for home, or make large ones as a small group project in the classroom. This activity can easily be adapted for both parents and teachers.

Kandinsky Shape Art for Kids – Messy Little Monster

Explore colors and shapes with your toddler or preschooler with this shape art for kids. This hands on learning art project inspired by Kandinsky. Is fantastic for kids of all ages.

Shape Stamp Painting

Make your own shape painting using shape stamps . This is an asy way to use those shape sorting toys in a fun new way.

Recycled Shapes Process Art – Mosswood Connections

Raid the recycle bin and use recycled items to make art. Kids will have fun discovering shapes with this Process Art Project.

Shape Sensory Activities for Kids

Shape sorting sensory bin.

This shape sorting sensory bin is loads of fun for toddlers and preschoolers. Get the FREE printable shapes and start teaching some math.

Shape Match Sensory Bin – Happy Toddler Playtime

Shape Match Sensory Bin is a fun sensory bin using shredded paper. It’s a fun and easy way to learn and practice shape recognition with your toddler or preschooler.

Fizzy Shapes Sensory Bin – Happy Toddler Playtime

Shapes play ideas where science meets math will always be a hit with toddlers and preschoolers. Check out this fizzy shapes sensory bin.

Shape Button Sensory Bin – 3 Dinosaurs

Have you seen those buttons that are different shapes? If not, go and grab them because you can create so many different play based learning activities with them.

Shape Sensory Squish Bag – Still Playing School

Create a sensory squish bag for kids to learn shapes. Stick it on the window to see what happens when the sun shines through.

Shape STEM Activities

Building shapes – stem for kids.

This Building Shapes – STEM for Kids activity is a fun, play based learning activity for toddlers and preschoolers. Engineering for kids can be both easy and fun, and includes more versatility than just building blocks.

Which Shape is Strongest – Science Sparks

Did you know that under certain circumstances paper can be very strong? This easy investigation uses paper folded into different shaped columns to hold up books. Which shape will hold the most books, before crumbling under the weight?

3D Bubble Shape Activity – Little Bins for Little Hands

Can you make bubbles different shapes? This is one of my favorite shape activities for kids because you find out how to make your own cool 3D bubble wands and explore the science of bubbles.

Floating Shapes Experiment – Active Littles

Want to learn how to make the floating dry erase marker experiment work? Learn how to make shapes float around on the top of water, just like magic.

Magic Disappearing Shapes Activity – Gift of Curiosity

This simple shapes activity brings some magic to your child’s learning by disappearing at your child’s command. Not bad for paper towels and water, is it?

Shape Fine Motor Activities for Kids

Sticker shapes fine motor activity.

This sticker shapes fine motor activity is a fun way for toddlers and preschoolers to learn shapes and develop fine motor skills.

Mystery Shapes – Days of Grey

Mystery Shapes is a fun fine motor activity for toddlers and preschoolers. Join the dots together to discover what shapes are hidden there.

Basic Shapes Work Station – Learning 4 Kids

Shapes play ideas provide children with the opportunity to explore and create with shapes. It teaches shape recognition and has the benefit of developing fine motor skills.

Sand Shapes – Gift of Curiosity

Sand shapes, a shape themed art, and fine motor activity kids will love.

Playdough Shapes Puzzle – Mama OT

Help your child develop fine motor skills with this simple yet creative puzzle activity using shapes and play dough.

Shapes Free Printable Activities

Craft stick shape mats.

Get your copy of these FREE Craft Stick Shape Mats. They’re perfect to help toddlers and preschoolers who are learning about shapes.  The children will develop fine motor skills, math, language, and more with this easy, low-prep activity.

Shape Playdough Mats – Fantastic Fun and Learning

Use these shape play dough mats to help preschoolers and kindergarteners learn how to make 2D shapes and recognize shapes in everyday objects

Free Shape Lacing Cards – 3 Dinosaurs

When you’re looking for shape activities for kids, make sure you include some shape lacing cards. This is a fun way to learn shapes with some hand-on learning.

Free Shape Flashcards – Look We’re Learning

These free printable shape flashcards are a wonderful learning resource for toddlers, and preschoolers who are learning about 2-D shapes.

Free Shape Dot Marker Printables – 3 Dinosaurs

Use this printable with dot markers, playdough or manipulatives. This simple printable is so incredibly versatile, your students will love it.

Shapes Activity Pack

Educational printables for toddlers, preschoolers and kindergarteners to teach them all about Shapes.

Are you going to try any of these Shape Activities for kids? Don’t forget to pin the idea for later.

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Fun with Mama

Toddler and preschool activities

Shapes Activities For Preschoolers

These hands-on 2D Shape activities for preschoolers will make learning shapes simple for teachers, and FUN for toddlers, preschoolers and kindergarteners. Did you know that learning shapes is a foundational skill? This can be done through having a preschool shapes theme week or by doing a shape of the week throughout the year.

In this post, I’m going to share with you my favorite shape resource that I’ve spent hours putting together so that you, my teacher friend, or fellow parent, don’t have to. I will also share my favorite free shape printables and simple activities you can do at home. You can check out my 2d shapes activity pack here.

Please note that while these shape activities for kindergarteners and preschoolers can be used by various ages. Adult supervision is always required.

You can find our favorite kids activity pack supplies here.

This page will be updated constantly to add more shapes activities.

Did you know that preschool shapes recognition is an early math skill? You also may be wondering how to teach basic shapes to preschoolers or toddlers and what shapes preschoolers should learn.

The shapes preschoolers should know are:

Take it further by introducing more shapes:

With these activities, not only will they be learning basic preschool shapes they will also work on early math skills and even learn preschool colors too. We often sprinkle in some shape activities throughout our preschool themes and units because repetition is the key. Children are sponges and they learn through repetition. 

These activities will make teaching shapes more fun.

The first few activities on this post are from our 2D Shapes Activity Pack

GET THE SHAPE ACTIVITY PACK HERE

GET THE ABOVE SHAPE ACTIVITIES

2d shape posters.

Yes, hang those posters up! Children are more observant than you realize, so while they are learning shapes it’s a great idea to hang up some shape posters in your home or classroom.

Shape 3 Part Cards

3 part cards, also known as Nomenclature cards, refer to

• The picture only card
• The word only card
• The whole card <— also the control card that includes the picture and word.

These Montessori inspired cards enrich vocabulary, and reading and writing skills. They help build connections. Students will match the correct words to the correct whole card.

Playdough Shapes Cards

Children learn better when we can incorporate more of their senses. We prefer to use hands on activities that encourage children to move their hands and bodies. Using play dough to make shapes will not only help them learn how to form a shape, it will also strengthen their fine motor skills, strengthen their hands, and work on their visual perception.

2D Shape Sorting Mats

These shape sorting mats include basic shapes and for a more advanced child, I’ve also included some real life shape objects. Children can sort the shapes to their correct mat. With a younger child you may opt to only give the student 2 mats at once, while with an older child you can have them sort shapes amongst all 12 mats.

2D Shape Roads

Beep! Beep! Let’s have some fun with those toys at home. Learning can be fun, especially if you pair your favorite toy with a learning activity. Children will use a toy car to drive around the shape. Add more of a sensory aspect to it by adding shaving cream to the mat (make sure to laminate the mats first.) Have them drive through the messy shaving cream and then, when they are done, dump their cars in a water bin for a carwash. This adds a sensory aspect to it, and we know how much kids love Water Play

2D Shape Lacing Activity

2D Craft Stick Shape Cards

Children love to build and create. Not only is this great for working on problem solving skills and creativity, but they learn math skills that will help them in the future. Have students build shapes out of popsicle sticks. You can opt to add velcro dots to the edges of each stick to make the pieces more sticky. When done building shapes, see what else children opt to create.

Shape Count and Clip Cards Math Activity

First, identify the shape and then students will count how many shapes are on the card. Then they will clip the correct number.

Match The Shape Buttons

I have a 2.5 year old at home, and one of her favorite activities is anything that incorporates stickers or these shape buttons. Children will match the color and shape button to the corresponding spot on the mat. Do your little ones enjoy working with shape buttons too?

Sticker Shapes

While we are working on my toddlers (or is she a preschooler)’s favorite activity type I incorporated the pom pom shape activity. I normally offer this activity two ways. The first is with pom poms. Children will place the correct pom pom color onto each shape’s white spot. Then, once we are done with pom poms I give her some circle stickers and she can place the stickers on the white circles.

2D Shape Fish Tank Hunt

These fish come in different shapes and sizes. Students will identify the fish with the matching shape and then cover them up. You can use goldfish crackers to mark the shape.

2D Shape Puzzles

For young children, cut the puzzle into two pieces. For older children, cut the shape into 4 pieces. Then have students match the shape to the shape word heading.

2D Shape Hunt Shape Mats

The detective is on a mission. He is looking for specific shapes. Children will need to help the detective find the shape and then write the number they found. If you laminate the page children can use a dry erase marker to write the number. Or, if you don’t, you can also have them use a magnetic number instead.

Snail Shell 2D Shape Matching

Match the shape shell to the correct snail. You can make this a file folder game. Laminate the page and add velcro dots.

2D Shape Foldable Book

Fold the book then follow the prompts on each page to color, trace, and draw the shape.

 2D Shape Patterns

Yep, there’s those buttons again. Like I mentioned before, we love them and if I’m going to purchase a material, I want to make sure we get to use them over and over again. These shape buttons pair perfectly with the shape pattern activity.

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You can get the above fun shape activities here:

GET THE ABOVE SHAPE ACTIVITIES HERE

Shape bestsellers in the shop.

More FUN Preschool shapes activities

Shapes themed toddler activities as well as preschool activities , constantly make a reappearance in our home. 

More Of The Best Preschool Shapes Activities

Mystery shapes.

Check out two of my daughters favorite shapes activities in her new YouTube video… have your child learn along with her.

Preschool Shapes Matching Activity

Make shapes collages using contact paper. This sticky shapes activity is a shapes sorting activity. The contact paper removes the need for glue and makes it easier for a toddler. This learning shapes and colors for toddler Printable activity looks as pretty as it is fun. My toddler had a blast placing the small stars in the big star.

Preschool Shapes Math Hunt Sensory Bin

This puzzle shapes hunt activity works wonderfully with any puzzle you have at home. Kids will learn their shapes through a sensory experience. The Shapes sensory bin can be made harder by having your child close their eyes and feeling the shape. My toddler was impressed by my preschool shapes game.

Toddler Shapes Activity Fishing

Preschool Shapes Paint Resist Activity

Try out this free printable  shape scavenger hunt.

12 Preschool Shapes Sensory Bins from around the web

We love sensory bins in our home and these 12 shapes sensory bins from around the web give you many different options on teaching your child shapes through sensory exploration.

Jelly Beans Color and Preschool Shapes Matching

Who can resist colorful jelly beans play? This activity works on shape and color recognition.

Shapes Fine Motor Activity

This activity is a little more advanced and works well for older preschoolers and elementary grade schoolers. I also enjoyed sewing and weaving with the kids. You can work on color recognition too.

Create a Preschool Shapes Stamp

Make shape stamps out of foam shapes and popsicle  sticks.

Make a Shapes Canvas Painting

Bingo Colors Printable Game

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How to Teach Shape Recognition to Preschoolers with Fun Activities

September 13, 2017 by Sheryl Cooper

Inside: How to Teach Shape Recognition to Preschoolers with Fun Activities with Free Printable

One of the areas we have to cover in our preschool assessments is shapes. I am always looking for ways to build shape recognition skills, but I want them to be playful and authentically blend in with our other hands-on activities.

I decided to put together my own collection of shape recognition activities by doing a little searching.

After weeding out the results, I came up with over 16 ideas that I knew would be perfect. Not only are they fun, but they involve building other skills , too. I always love that!

So put away those flashcards, my friends. These fun activities will help your preschoolers learn to identify circles, triangles, squares, rectangles, and ovals .

👉 Bonus! I created a shape matching activity printable for your children. Scroll towards the bottom of this post to get the download.

• Preschool Math Activities
• Preschool Literacy Activities

Build shape recognition using toys .

Make circles by painting with spools .

Play a shape game while also recognizing colors.

Make circles with a DIY circle stamper .

Mix colors while stamping circles from paper tubes .

Take apart your nesting toys to stamp shapes with paint .

Make a simple shape collage . (Homegrown Friends)

Go on a shape hunt at the playground (free printable included). (Buggy and Buddy)

Paint with different shapes of foam blocks. (Meri Cherry)

Make a shape puzzle using blocks you already have. (Twodaloo) (ETA: Unfortunately website is no longer running.)

Trace shapes on a chalkboard. (Hands On As We Grow)

Create a fine motor shape bin . (Stir the Wonder)

Make a shape sorting activity from an ice cube tray. (Mess for Less)

Make paper roads in different shapes and trace with cars. (Adventures of Adam)

Play shape hopscotch indoors! (Housing a Forest)

Use colored construction paper to create a train color sorting activity . (Mom Inspired Life)

More shapes activities:

Toddler Triangle Shapes Activity

15 Activities for Teaching Squares

Shapes Art Using Toys

Teaching Circles to Toddlers and Preschoolers

Going on a Circle Hunt Circle Time Activity

Here’s a simple shape matching activity for your children to try today! Click on the photo for the link to the PDF download:

FREE CIRCLE TIME PLANNER!

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About Sheryl Cooper

Sheryl Cooper is the founder of Teaching 2 and 3 Year Olds, a website full of activities for toddlers and preschoolers. She has been teaching this age group for over 25 years and loves to share her passion with teachers, parents, grandparents, and anyone with young children in their lives.

Reader Interactions

May 31, 2016 at 5:32 pm

These are great ways to teach shapes and colors. I love how you said in your intro that kids don’t need worksheets or flashcards. I’m a firm believer in hands on learning, especially for our little ones.

May 31, 2016 at 10:46 pm

Thank you, Amanda! I feel strongly about this. Thank you for reading!

September 14, 2017 at 8:39 am

Thanks so much sheiyl for this post I really love it as a preschooler teacher.

September 14, 2017 at 9:00 pm

I’m happy to hear that! Thank you!

Discovery Play with Littles

3:18 pm ·

26 Simple and Fun Shape Activities for Toddlers and Preschoolers

“I found it!” Jacob half-screamed as he beamed and brought me the square. We’ve been working on our basic shapes for the past couple of weeks and he was doing really well.

He loved all of our simple activities, but the shape scavenger hunt was his favorite.

What age should a child know shapes?

Begin teaching shapes to your toddler around 2, and by 3 they should know the basic 2D shapes: square, rectangle, circle, and triangle.

Sitting your toddler down and trying to get them to focus on flashcards and worksheets will not only end up in frustration for him but for you too! Young kids learn best through hands-on activities, they are more interested and engaged when they can explore shapes for themselves.

Why Teaching Shapes is Important

Recognizing shapes is a foundational skill toddlers need to learn, and lends itself to developing other skills. Shape identification is the first step to developing other academic skills such as pre-reading skills, pre-writing skills, sorting, comparing, and it also introduces them to more descriptive vocabulary.

How Do I Start Teaching my Toddler Shapes?

Little learners learn best with hands-on activities. Skip the worksheets and flashcards, but using different sizes of real objects that you already have at home is a great way to start introducing your child to shapes.

Are you tired of hearing “It’s TOO HARD!” followed by a meltdown?

Using this one simple phrase you’ll get in this powerful lesson, you’ll not only be able to help your kiddo not give up but you’ll:

>Activate their superpower of perseverance so that they can turn around a meltdown and keep trying

>Inspire them to use perseverance …even when it’s hard

>Teach them to recognize the warning signs of giving up , and how to turn it around by taking control of their choices.

Grab your powerful FREE video lesson to teach your kiddo one of the most powerful keys to perseverance.

How Do You Make Learning Shapes Activities Simple and Fun for Toddlers?

Make learning shapes part of your everyday life.

• We started with a triangle, so I made his pancake in the shape of a triangle. We talked about the shape I was making, and then I cut it up in little triangles before he would eat so he saw triangles the whole time he was eating.
• Once he learned several shapes, I surprised him with what shape I was making. After he got to know shapes really well, I let him pick what shape he wanted that day.

• This was a quick, fun game that was scattered throughout our day. Whenever we would go into his room, he would identify the shape on his door. Every time he wanted a drink, he would identify a shape. When we would brush teeth or wash hands, there was a shape.
• Remember to rotate the shapes at least once a week or toddlers will quickly learn that the fridge is “circle.” 
• Have your child color and decorate the shape posters included in the Free   Little Learners Activity Pack  below.
• Bathtime – Bathtime is a great time to teach new concepts because you have the advantage of having a captive audience. Use bath crayons to draw shapes on the bath, and have your toddler point to the shape when you call out the name. It’s even more fun if you have an eyedropper they can use to squirt water on the shape.

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• Road signs – As you drive down the road have your child look for shapes. Road signs are a perfect example, but they may even be able to spot different shapes on buildings. They might see a clock that is a circle, a house that has a square on it, or a bale of hay that is a rectangle. 
• Signs at restaurants – When we were first learning shapes we went to Jimmy Johns. Their walls are plastered with funny signs. Jacob’s mind was blown. He first spotted a circle, and as the list of shapes he recognized grew, his excitement grew along with it. It was so fun to see him applying in real life what we were learning at home. He was ecstatic.
• Shape hunt around the neighborhood – Go on a walk around the neighborhood. Have your child be on the lookout for shapes, you will be surprised how many you find. A circle in a trampoline, a square on a house, a diamond for a birdhouse. Keep track of how many you find and on your next walk, try to get more! 
• I spy – I spy is a game we typically use colors for, but this time use shapes. “I spy a rectangle.” This gets your child looking around your room, searching for different shapes.
• Read shape books – My toddler learned the star shape because it was in one of his favorite books. He analyzed the pictures every time, and once I gave him the vocabulary (“star”) for what he was seeing, he loved to pick it out every time. Reading is important, and when you read about what you are learning about it makes learning more meaningful.

Check out our favorite Shape Books .

Fun Shape Activities for Toddlers

These shape activities are a great way to make learning simple and fun.

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• Driveway shapes – Draw shapes on your driveway with sidewalk chalk. Call out a shape, and a way to travel. Your child can run, hop, frog jump, gallop, skip, walk backward, etc. to the shape that you call out. In the winter, you can make shapes on your floor with blue painter’s tape or make shapes out of paper to lay on the floor to make it reusable. This is a great activity to get some energy out.
• Dot the shapes – In the Free Little Learners Activity Pack below, have your child trace or use bingo dotters along the edge of the shapes.

• Shape sorting – Sort shape buttons or pattern blocks according to shape, color, or let your child pick how to sort. They may come up with something you haven’t thought of.
• Shape search – Print the shape search shapes in the free Little Learners Activity Pack on cardstock and cut them out. Hide them in a bin filled with rice, salt, cornmeal, beans, etc., and have your child sift through the bin to find the shapes. You could also use shape buttons, or any shapes you have around the house for this.
• Playdough Mats – In the free Little Learners Activity Pack, print the play-doh mats and put them in a page protector or laminate them. Have your child fill the shapes with play-doh, outline the shapes, or just decorate them.
• Shape pictures – Using shape buttons, shapes you’ve cut out from the packet, or any shapes you have around the house, have your child put different shapes together to make a picture. How many unique pictures can you make? For example, for a house, you could use squares, triangles, and rectangles.

Games That Teach Shapes for Toddlers

Playing games is great for kids. Games teach process, imagination, exploration, and problem-solving. Not to mention the social skills of working together, turn-taking, and being kind.

Below are some different shape puzzles that will help your child learn not only their shapes but the different characteristics of shapes.

While playing with these, you can begin to teach them how to compare, the number of sides, number of corners, colors, and more/less (sides, corners). You can also use the shapes in these puzzles for many of the activities above.

This shape sorter builds early shape and color recognition skills.

This shape sorting cube encourages the development of problem-solving, color and shape recognition.

Melissa and Doug Pattern Blocks help kids to recognize shapes and also develop spatial awareness, problem-solving, color recognition, and hand/eye coordination.

Snug as a Bug in a Rug is a fan favorite of preschoolers. In this game, you have to rescue all of the bugs before the stinkbugs make it on the rug. During your rescue, you will practice counting, colors, and shapes.

Fun Preschool Shape Activities

Preschoolers love shape activities, even if they’ve already mastered their shapes. A strong foundation of shape recognition will benefit your child as they grow and begin to learn letters and write. These activities are also simple ways to develop imagination, problem solving, creativity, and fine motor skills!

• Geoboards : Geoboards are so much fun for little learners! They love making various shapes with rubber bands. Can they make a specific shape you name? Can they make a picture of several shapes and identify the shapes after they are done?

• Shape Monster : Using paper plates, cut out each shape. Using construction paper, pipe cleaners, googly eyes, scrapbook paper, watercolors, etc., decorate it to turn the shape into your monster. Maybe your shape monster has four arms or three eyes. Maybe his mouth is on the side of his head and his eyes are on the bottom. This is a fun way to use creativity, problem-solving, and fine motor skills all while learning shapes. There are also shape monster templates included in our Shape of the Week Curriculum below.
• Shape Scavenger Hunt : This is an easy way to learn shapes. Ask your child to find a shape around your house. How many squares can they find? Rectangles? They will love the variety of shapes they find in their own space, and kids feel proud when they can learn to identify shapes correctly.
• Cut Shapes : Draw shapes of different sizes on a piece of paper. Have your child practice cutting them out. This is a great way to work on scissor skills and strengthen fingers in little hands while learning the names of shapes. Templates are also included in our Shape of the Week Curriculum.
• Shape Monster Sensory Bin : Toddlers and preschoolers love sensory bins . Your little learners will love playing with the water beads, pattern blocks, pipe cleaners, and googly eyes that make up this fun shape monster sensory bin.

• Shape Pictures : Cut different sizes of every shape. What pictures can you make with the shapes? Have popsicle sticks, googly eyes, pipe cleaners, and pom-poms available to your child to add to their picture as well.
• Kinetic Sand is a great sensory play activity for little hands. Can they use a sand mold to make the different shapes? Can they draw the shapes with their finger or a popsicle stick?

Shape of the Week Curriculum

Our favorite shape activities are included in our Shape of the Week Curriculum . This curriculum has 7 activities for each shape: Squares, Triangles, Rectangles, Circles, Ovals, Pentagons, Hearts, Stars, and Hexagons. This print-and-go style curriculum will have your little learner begging to do more activities. They will love using their creativity to master their shapes, while you can feel confident because the activities are ready to go, and you know they are not only learning their shapes, but also strengthening their fine motor skills, using creativity, and loving every minute!

Have fun with shapes!

Learning shapes is simple and fun, especially because it is so easy to integrate into your daily routine. Grab our Shape of the Week Curriculum for more fun with shapes!

You Might Also Enjoy:

Tracing Shapes | Why It’s Important and How to Practice

The Best Shapes Books for Preschoolers

Activities for Teaching Your Toddler Colors

Your Turn  

What are your favorite shape activities?

About Elizabeth

Elizabeth is a mama of two boys, a former teacher, and the founder of Discovery Play with Littles. Her mission is to make raising kids with character simple and fun. Join us for our best learning through play ideas, character growth activities, and family connection ideas so you can watch your child thrive.

Perseverance is the biggest predictor of success, even more than raw talent or aptitude.

Grab a FREE lesson to teach your kiddo one of the keys to perseverance...which is how we talk to our brains.

They'll learn what to say when they encounter something difficult, and why it's so important.

PLAY is often talked about as if it were a relief from serious learning. But for children play is serious learning. Play is really the work of childhood. -Mr. Rogers

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Fantastic Fun & Learning

Fun learning activities and things to do with kids

Shape Activities

By Shaunna Evans 2 Comments · This content may contain affiliate links.

There are so many ways to incorporate  hands-on math activities for kids into playful fun and learning. In this collection we’re specifically looking at creative shape activities to help kids learn about 2D shapes.

Make  shape rocks  for kids to use for play and learning. Fun-A-Day shares some excellent ideas for using them.

Scavenger hunts are always a hit around here. Buggy and Buddy has a free printable to take along with you for a shape scavenger hunt at the playground.

Making shape collages like these from Homegrown Friends can be a great way to expose young kids to shapes. The process also promotes creativity.

Make your own geoboard with this tutorial from Crayon Box Chronicles. I love the use of fabric loops in this one!

Toddlers and preschoolers will love the added sensory element of water and bubbles in this scooping shapes sensory bin .

Little creators can turn 2D shapes into a bird or another favorite creation in this 2-D shape art invitation .

Use play dough and these free printable shape mats to make shape pet “food” for pet theme math fun!

Turn shapes into collage art monsters in this creative monster art shape activity .

Help children begin to recognize 2D Shapes in real objects with these free printable photo shape puzzles .

Fun-A-Day has another homemade geoboard that is super easy to make and great for letting kids create their own shapes.

This Foam Lacing Shapes activity is great fine motor practice and makes a great busy bag.

This Build a Bracelet activity is great for shape recognition and fine tuning your child’s fine motor skills.

This inexpensive Cardboard Shapes activity easy toddler craft is a cheap way to teach your toddlers shapes.

Learn to recognize shapes in everyday objects with these quick prep free printable 2D shape puzzles .

This fun Trace the shapes art project is a great fine motor activity and a great way to do some art while learning shapes.

This simple Learn about shapes using paper plates and yarn activity is so easy to set up and will be so much fun for your little ones.

These Shape Play Dough Mats will teach your kids the basic shapes so they can start to recognize and learn them.

If you are looking to get your kids active and moving, you can’t go wrong with this Shape Hopscotch activity.

RELATED: 25 Shape Books for Kids

More math and science activities with fizz, pop, bang.

Fizz, Pop, Bang! Playful Science and Math Activities  is designed to bring hands-on fun to math and science play. It’s full of engaging and powerful learning opportunities in math and science, shared through ideas that incorporate art, play, sensory learning and discovery, for a whole-brain approach.

It includes 40 educational projects and 20 printables including a set of build-your-own 3D shape blocks, engineering challenge cards and a range of math games.

Learn more about  Fizz, Pop, Bang!  or you can  buy it now !

Reader Interactions

Mary Catherine

February 19, 2014 at 6:24 pm

Thanks so much for including my rainbow rocks! I love seeing the other shape ideas you have here — can’t wait to check out the rest!

February 19, 2014 at 2:32 pm

Thank you for featuring our DIY Geoboard with fabric loops. So many great activities. Pinned.

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Engaging Shape Activities for Preschoolers and Kindergarteners 

Table of Contents

1. play shape bingo, 2. create popsicle stick fun .

3. Shape Tracing Fun

4. Hop Into Shapes!

5. google cute shape songs, 6. go on a shape scavenger hunt.

7 . Make a Shape Place Mat

8. Shape-Tac-Toe

9. make a square puzzle, 10. shape coloring pages.

Learning to recognize shapes is important for every preschooler and kindergarten student. Shape recognition starts the path to building a strong foundation for math skills as a child grows up. Plus, learning to recognize shapes is important because they are everywhere!

From that rectangle-shaped smartphone, to a slice of pizza, to the cute round body of a bunny and so many more, we’re surrounded by shapes. So don’t be a square, and try these fun shape activities for preschoolers and kindergarteners that you and your child will love doing together!

Delve into these hands-on activities, including crafts, games and more, that will have your child learning and recognizing shapes in no time:

How to Play:

You can create your own shape bingo cards by drawing various colored shapes onto a durable piece of paper or cardboard. Alternatively, you can print and use these fun, free shape bingo cards designed by our ABCmouse team. Our shape bingo cards showcase a variety of shapes, including circles, squares, rectangles, and triangles. We offer three versions to cater to different preferences: a black and white version for those who enjoy coloring, a pre-colored version ready for immediate play, and a unique version featuring objects that represent different shapes.

To play, simply use the provided calling sheet to cut out each shape and place them into an envelope. During gameplay, draw a shape from the envelope, announce it, and have your child locate and mark the corresponding shape on their card. The game is won when your child lines up three shapes in a row—celebrate their victory!

If you pull a triangle shape from your envelope, your child has to check off a triangle on the bingo board that you created. Keep pulling out shapes that your child has to match on her board until she has three consecutive shapes in row, whether across, down or diagonal. 

Benefits of this Activity:

• Playing games like this adds fun to the learning experience. If you’re teaching more than one child at a time, it adds a bit of healthy competition, too. 
• By incorporating visual shapes with the words you call out, shape bingo helps build vocabulary and phonemic awareness at the same time. 
• The activity is not only educational, but provides a great parent-child bonding experience. Your child has to listen and focus on what you are saying to win the game. And what mom or dad doesn’t like seeing their little one smile in pride once she’s worked hard on achieving something big?

Draw basic straight-line shapes such as square, rectangle and triangle. Have your child put Elmer’s glue on popsicle sticks (you can buy them online or in craft stores), and place one on each line of the drawn shape. Now your child has an instant picture frame that he can draw inside of. 

Draw a square on the paper. Put glue on one side of four popsicle sticks. Place each stick, glue-side down, on each side of the square. And there you have it! There’s a big canvas inside the square for your child to fill in with drawings, letters or numbers—anything he’d like! This can be done using rectangles and triangles, too.

• This tactile activity allows children to touch, feel and see how many sides are needed to create a given shape, thus providing an immersive educational experience. 
• Doing crafts such as this helps develop fine motor skills. Spreading glue onto a stick and matching those sticks to lines puts to work those little muscles that will one day help your child write, tie his shoes and zipper his coat.

3. Shape Tracing Fun 

Introduce your child to the basics of shape identification with our free printable shape worksheets . You can start by using our Shape Tracing Worksheets, which include simple outlines of 2D shapes like circles, squares, triangles, and rectangles.

Provide your child with a variety of writing utensils like colored pencils, markers or crayons and encourage them to trace these shapes carefully.

Print out a shape tracing worksheet featuring a triangle. Give your child a crayon and show them how to trace along the dotted lines of the triangle. Once they’ve traced the shape, they can color it in, enhancing their engagement and enjoyment.

• Tracing shapes helps children develop fine motor skills and spatial awareness. It’s a tactile way for them to explore the dimensions and boundaries of different shapes, reinforcing their ability to identify and differentiate between them.
• Tracing enhances cognitive development by fostering concentration and focus. As children participate in tracing activities, they learn to adhere to a sequence of steps, thereby cultivating crucial executive function skills.

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Grab some crayons and construction paper or a sketch pad. Have your child draw a picture of an adorable bunny rabbit. Here’s how:

Draw a large horizontal oval (think of an egg on its side) for the body. Draw smaller circles on each of its sides to be the head and tail. Draw tiny horizontal oblong circles on the bottom to be the feet. Draw tall triangles to be the bunny’s ears and tiny rectangles to be the cute little buck teeth. Don’t forget to make straight lines for whiskers!

Show your child a picture of a plump little bunny to indicate the shapes needed to draw the picture.

• The hands-on nature of this creative activity helps reinforce your child’s understanding of basic shapes. Drawing the different parts of the animal gives children practice in shape recognition while fostering their creativity. 
• Children utilize their fine motor skills by having to draw shapes of different sizes.

This one is great for younger children. And who doesn’t enjoy googling music? Or a good nursery rhyme? Just do a quick search using keywords such as “shape song lyrics for preschoolers” or “easy shape song lyrics,” and you’ll discover lots of musical gems. Sing along with your child, and enjoy a fun way to learn about shapes.

The Shapes Song by ABCmouse is upbeat, catchy and easy to sing along to!  

• By singing along and watching the corresponding videos, music helps children recognize and remember what shapes look like easier.
• Looking around the house for shapes that appeared in the song helps reinforce a child’s recognition of the shapes long after the music ended.

For this one, you’ll need to enjoy being in the great outdoors. Go on a walk with your child and ask her to spot shapes in nature and point to what she’s found. (You can also do this in your backyard if you don’t have a park or natural space nearby.) 

During your outdoor adventure, ask your child to look for anything in nature shaped like a circle. She can look for a small pond, a tree stump…maybe even a little turtle strolling by from afar. You can also look for triangles and four-sided figures. They’re out there in nature if you search hard enough!

• A scavenger hunt is an immersive way to help reinforce what a child recently learned. After a traditional lesson about shapes, a scavenger hunt is a great way to put that new-found knowledge into action. It gives children a hands-on way to experience what they are learning at home or in the classroom. 
• Scavenger hunts are exciting and provide children with a sense of adventure while helping to build important skills that can be applied as a child grows up, such as critical thinking, goal-setting and attention to detail. 
• As they explore, looking up, down and all around, children are incorporating movement into the learning process. This helps with memory and overall understanding of subject matter. 

7. Make a Shape Place Mat

You’ll need cardstock paper, construction paper, clear contact paper, Elmer’s glue and scissors. Have your child draw shapes on different colors of construction paper. You or your child will then cut out the shapes and glue them onto a piece of cardstock that is similar in size to a traditional placemat. Apply the contact paper directly over the cardstock. You’ll then have a practical placemat adorned with shapes that your child can look at while she eats! 

Use pink construction paper for squares, yellow for triangles, blue for circles…or just mix it up in a variety of shapes and colors. 

• Like many craft activities, it provides hands-on learning that engages children and fosters creativity.  
• Children utilize their fine motor skills by having to draw shapes, cut paper and glue items together.

Forget X’s and O’s. Change up the classic game of tic-tac-toe by using fun shapes instead. Plus, it’s a game that’s easy enough to play anywhere, whether you’re at home, waiting for a doctor’s appointment or even while having a picnic in the park.

Draw the traditional tic-tac-toe board in the hashtag (pound) design. Instruct your child to choose a shape, you choose another and whoever gets three of their shapes across, down or diagonal wins.

• Playing games like tic-tac-toe helps improve concentration and focus. 
• Children see and create patterns, which helps develop visual processing and working memory functions.

Make a square puzzle composed of different shapes. Here’s how:

Draw shapes on a piece of paper (any color). Be sure to use the entire piece of paper. Cut out the shapes. Then, instruct your child to use the shapes as puzzle pieces to put the piece of paper back together again.

Draw a square. Next to it, draw two triangles that are flush to the side of the square. The idea is to keep the shapes symmetrical so everything fits back together to form the piece of paper easily, like putting together a puzzle. (Note: It’s easier to stick with four-sided shapes and triangles for this activity.)

• Helps children develop hand-eye coordination and visualization.
• Children have to focus and strategize, thus improving concentration while developing a good foundation for problem-solving skills.
• Reinforces shape recognition.

Take advantage of our extensive collection of Shape Coloring Pages . Ranging from circles and squares to stars and hearts, each coloring sheet offers a unique way to explore different objects and shapes.

Select a triangle coloring page that includes various sizes and styles of triangles. Guide your child to trace and color each triangle. Discuss the properties of the shape, such as the number of sides and points, helping them to recognize triangles in everyday objects and environments.

• Coloring shapes keeps children engaged and interested.
• Tracing and coloring enhance children’s fine motor skills.
• This activity helps build foundational math skills in geometry by making abstract concepts tangible.

ABCmouse Shape Games & Activities

For more interactive and engaging shape activities, check out ABCmouse.com. The ABCmouse early learning educational app offers a wide range of games and activities designed to help young children learn and master shape recognition.

Get started with the ABCmouse app today and watch your child work to grow their letter sound skills in a fun and interactive way!

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These worksheets help students learn the basic shapes ; they include exercises on tracing, drawing, naming and identifying 2D shapes, recognizing the difference between 2D and 3D shapes, and comparing shapes to real life objects.

Sample Kindergarten Shapes Worksheet

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Hands On As We Grow®

Hands on kids activities for hands on moms. Focusing on kids activities perfect for toddlers and preschoolers.

12 Shape Activities for Toddlers! It’s Hip to be Square!

Math & 123s Toddlers Resources Shapes 24 Comments

These 12 hands on shape activities for toddlers (2 year olds) will make it hip to be square!

Toddlers will have fun learning shapes in a hands on way.

We’ve been having a little bit of fun lately doing some hands on shape activities!

George is on a shapes kick right now, anytime he asks for an activity, he’s been asking for ‘shapes’. I can’t say no to that!

I keep the shapes I work on with my toddlers in activities pretty basic.

Usually the square, triangle, circle.

And then I usually sneak in an odd one here and there just to introduce it, like the octagon (my kids seem to catch on to that one quickly because of stop signs), oval and rectangles.

How to Teach Shapes to Toddlers

First comes recognizing the shapes and then labeling them.

These shapes activities for toddlers are perfect for 2 year olds learning to recognize their shapes.

Building and making shapes is a plus for toddlers, as well as drawing and tracing them. This will come in time… preschoolers will be able to start doing this.

Find 50 activities that are perfect for your toddler  here.

12 shape activities for 2 year olds

These shape activities for toddlers are all very hands on and fun, the learning is just a plus!

I tend to stray away from printables and worksheets, so these activities pass my ‘hands-on’ learning test that all get toddlers very involved in learning shapes.

Shapes are fun to start spotting out in your every day lives too! Your two year old will start seeing wheels as circles, and houses as squares.

Make it a challenge when you’re out for a walk to see what shapes you can each spot!

Call them out and have a good time with it.

I bet you can even find an octagon (Stop signs!). That’s a great way to introduce a new shape like that.

For more learning activities for toddlers, check out these  14 activities that focus on shapes, letters, colors and numbers.

There are also tons of super fun books about shapes for toddlers to reinforce what your learning with activities.

Shapes: My First Pop-up! (A Pop Magic Book) by Matthew Reinhart is a super fun one!

Download the FREE Week of Toddler Activities to do this week!

About Jamie Reimer

Jamie learned to be a hands on mom by creating activities, crafts and art projects for her three boys to do. Jamie needed the creative outlet that activities provided to get through the early years of parenting with a smile! Follow Jamie on Pinterest and Instagram !

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Reader Interactions

24 comments.

Remi Kate says

December 5, 2022 at 7:39 am

this article is very useful. l have a little brother and he is really likes such methods. now we are learning fruits and vegetables, this is not advertising, it’s just that this article may also be useful to someone https://wunderkiddy.com/category/vegetables-fruits-and-berries

carol klein says

April 30, 2020 at 10:04 am

Love the ideas. I have a story book of shapes That I read to my grand daughter. I write the word or drew the shape on a paper then I challenge her to find the name and shape in the book .. then she challenges me by drawing the shape of just writing a letter she knows and I have to find them..

swetha says

April 24, 2016 at 1:36 pm

this will be very useful to me as a teacher.

sutton says

November 16, 2015 at 8:17 am

I am a home base teacher in Cleveland, ohio and the activities that we were using was boring for the kids. so I found your website which gave me and the children more learning time with the same activity and I have more questions to ask the children during work time. I look on your website everyday for some thing new and different.

Bonnie says

October 22, 2015 at 12:16 pm

I love your ideas with shapes. I decided to trace my small colored blocks onto a poster board then I had my toddlers match the shape on the board to the blocks in the basket. They loved it. Thanks for sharing your great ideas. Have a blessed day.

August 29, 2013 at 6:54 am

Such great ideas! I love the driveway shape maze! In kindergarten (so a little bit older wee ones) we would play ‘guess my shape’. I would start drawing a shape (one angled line for example) and the kids would guess the shape just from that first clue, then I’d add a second line, etc. until they all got the shape. It was great in helping them look at shapes more closely – what makes a triangle different from other shapes? Later in the year the kids would play this game on their own with friends. Love the hands on learning!! Excited to play chalk maze !

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Identifying and Naming 2D Shapes Worksheets

We have penned this printable set of identifying and naming 2D shapes worksheets that is easy to use – for the novice and not-so-shape-savvy kids of kindergarten, grade 1, grade 2 and grade 3. Packed with engaging exercises like identifying and describing basic 2D shapes, followed by quadrilaterals and polygons, coloring 2D figures, matching names with shapes, drawing 2-dimensional figures, identifying and counting, and a crossword puzzle, these pdf worksheets are aimed at laying a strong foundation in recognizing two-dimensional shapes. Capture the essence of this collection with our free identifying and naming worksheets.

Identifying and Naming 2D Shapes

What begins as just an attempt to identify flat shapes ends up in helping with vocabulary and spellings too. Kids in 1st grade and 2nd grade are expected to identify the 2D shapes and write their names in this pdf.

• Grab the Worksheet

Naming Quadrilaterals

Grade 3 kids observe the sides and angles of each four-sided figure or quadrilateral in this printable plane shapes worksheet, identify and label them accordingly.

Naming Regular Polygons

Polygons are 2-dimensional figures formed by joining 3 or more straight lines. Count the number of sides and write the apt Greek prefix with the word "gon" as in pentagon, hexagon, heptagon, octagon and so on.

Identifying 2-Dimensional Shapes | MCQ

With three flat shape names as options to choose from, this printable identifying and naming 2D shapes worksheet doesn't fail to enthuse the little ones and test their recognition skills.

Coloring the Correct 2D Shape

Treat the cool kid in your kindergarten and grade 1 to this worksheet on identifying and coloring 2D figures. The kids read the name of the shape and hunt for it in the pool of four options and color it.

Matching Shapes and Names

Can your little artist tell a circle from an oval? Pique eager minds with this matching 2D shapes and names worksheet pdf where they make one-to-one correspondence between the 2D figure and its name.

2D Shapes and Names | Cut and Glue Activity

Cut and glue is one activity that has stood the test of time and continues to be one of the children’s favorites. Cutting the plane shapes and gluing them in the appropriate boxes is all that kids need to do.

Drawing Two-Dimensional Shapes

With 2-dimensional shapes forming the basis of many a drawing, it's vital for kids to learn to draw them. Put your ruler to good use or you may end up with wiggly lines while sketching the flat figures.

Counting Plane Figures

Interweaving two essential skills: recognition and counting, this pdf with an image of a ship, doesn't fail to catch the eye of your grade 2 kids. Get them to identify and count the shapes to answer the questions.

2D Shapes Crossword Puzzle

Doing crosswords dramatically increases vocabulary. With triple benefits of identification, vocabulary, and spelling this printable 2D shapes crossword is the thing your 3rd grade kids need.

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Shape and Pattern Recognition Worksheets

Your student will have so much fun learning their basic shapes with these shape and pattern recognition worksheets. Give your preschooler or kindergartner a head start to geometry with these fun pages. Most are puzzle solving pages. This set includes challenges like fill in the missing shape to make a pattern, draw a line to match the shapes and a color by shape rainbow that also helps with color recognition. The worksheets provide great practice for identifying, naming and drawing two-dimensional shapes. They also get to exercise their fine motor skills while unlocking the pattern puzzles.

These worksheets are a great introduction to math. They provide a hands-on activity to learn about circles, squares, triangles, ovals, pentagons, octagons and more. Talk with your child about how many sides, points and corners each shape has.

One fun game to play with your little one is to find shapes inside your home. Make a list of the different shapes found and then count the sides of each shape. For instance, a picture frame may be a square with four sides. It’s also fun to play outside where there may be even more fun shapes to identify.

This set coordinates perfectly with our spring preschool worksheets  and our ocean hidden pictures printables – more fun practice for shape recognition, tracing and attention to detail.

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Helping Your Baby Reach Greater Wonders

5 Shape Recognition Activities to Boost Development

• Children start showing an interest in shapes around 2 or 3 years old, but you can teach your little one about them from birth through everyday interactions.
• Your child can improve their visual-spatial abilities and spatial awareness by recognizing shapes. 
• Shapes are a key component of the foundation kids need in math and science.  
• There are several ways to help your child learn shapes. Some examples are pointing out shapes, using technology, and playing shape-recognition games. 

I started teaching our daughter about different shapes before she went to preschool. When her first report card came home, I could see the games we played and the songs we sang worked! Now, I’m doing the same with our son. Teaching kids about shapes in a fun and interactive way helps them retain what they learn. 

Play is learning, and there’s no better way to teach your kids about shapes. Once you understand the importance of shape recognition, you can find out how to play your way through all the shapes!

Shape Recognition: Why Kids Need to Learn Shapes

Recognizing shapes is an essential skill for children. It forms the foundation for many other areas of learning, like math, reading, and science. Here are some reasons why kids need to learn shapes:

Visual-Spatial Abilities: The ability to recognize and manipulate shapes is closely tied to visual-spatial skills. These abilities are important for reading maps, building blocks, and using technology. 

Spatial Awareness: Understanding shapes and their properties will help your child develop a sense of how objects relate to one another in specific spaces. This awareness will help them visualize and manipulate objects in their head. 

Problem-Solving: Recognizing and identifying shapes will help your little one approach problem-solving and reasoning in a structured manner. 

Enhancing Creativity: Recognizing and using shapes can also help your children’s creativity. They can use shapes to create pictures, designs, and other works of art.

Mathematical Skills: Shapes are a crucial component of geometry. Learning about shapes will lay the foundation your kids need for future math skills. 

When Is the Best Time to Teach Your Child About Shapes?

Children typically show an interest in shapes around 2 or 3 years old. This is a great time to teach them more about it. Preschoolers should identify and recognize basic shapes.

You should, however, teach shape recognition before this age. Children can start learning shapes in a fun and playful way from birth! You can point out shapes in their environment and identify them in their toys. 

You can also use everyday objects to show your child how different shapes look. Talking to your kids about shapes will help develop their awareness of them. 

You don’t need worksheets and complicated activities to help your children learn shapes. Dr. Kate Green (Ph.D. in Child Development) says that learning through play positively influences literacy and mathematic development in children. 

At What Age Should a Child Be Able to Identify Basic Shapes?

Every child develops at their own pace. Don’t be concerned if your kid takes a little longer to grasp the concept of shapes. Most children will identify basic shapes like circles, squares, and triangles by age 3 or 4.  

Your child will likely hit this milestone on time if you playfully introduce shapes. Kids should be interested and motivated to learn about shapes if you want them to retain the information. Hands-on activities and games will capture their attention and help them enjoy getting to know different forms . 

How to Help Your Child Learn Shapes

Preschool teachers often focus on shapes before teaching kids the alphabet. This is because forms build the knowledge children need to learn letters and how to read. You can help your child learn shapes long before they go to school. Below are some fun ways to do this!  

Help Your Child Learn Shapes by Using Real-Life Examples

The easiest way to teach shape recognition is by pointing out shapes in your child’s surroundings. This will help your child make real-world connections and reinforce their understanding of different shapes.  

You can point out square windows, round wheels, or the triangular shape of a pizza slice. Ask your little one to look for and identify different shapes as you do your daily activities. You can make a game out of it or challenge them by asking for a specific shape. 

If you have more than one child, motivating them with a prize is also a good idea!

Help Your Child Learn Shapes by Playing With Them

Playing with shapes is a fun and interactive way to learn. Give your child different types of shapes to play with. You can encourage older children to build structures with blocks and identify the shapes they use. Shape sorting toys and toddler puzzles are great for toddlers starting to learn shape recognition. 

If you have play dough, press out a few shapes with your cookie cutters and ask your kids to match them. You can also draw, color and paint different shapes. 

Help Your Child Learn Shapes by Using Technology

There are many educational apps and games available that help children learn shapes. Look for age-appropriate content that is fun and interactive. 

You can find games that teach shape recognition, sorting, and matching. Some games develop problem-solving skills and teach children how to draw shapes. For younger children, choose games with common shapes like the circle, the square, the triangle, and the rectangle. Preschoolers should play games introducing the oval, star, diamond, and heart. 

Note: Read feedback from other parents and limit screen time.  

5 Shape Recognition Activities Kids Will Enjoy

You can do many activities with your children at home or on the go to teach them shapes. Below is a list of games you can play that will teach shape recognition while encouraging creativity, problem-solving, and practicing gross, fine, and visual motor skills . 

Shape Scavenger Hunt

You can create a shape-inspired scavenger hunt where your child has to find and identify shapes in your house or at the park. This activity will help little ones make real-world connections, practice problem-solving skills, and reinforce shape recognition. 

Here’s a simple guideline for this activity:

• Make a list of all the shapes your children need to find. You can also give them shape cards that they have to match to real-world objects.
• Set a timer to add a sense of urgency and get your kids excited!
• Reward the winner with a small prize. If you only have one child, motivate them with their favorite treat or another activity once they complete the scavenger hunt. 

Shape Sticker Designs

Playing with stickers is a fantastic fine motor activity that’s easy to set up. Children can come up with great ideas when doing this task! 

Start by giving them stickers made from different shapes and pieces of paper. You can ask your child to create an image using stickers to represent different objects. They can use a circle for the sun or triangles for trees. Let them be creative and explain to you how their imaginary picture was made when they’re done. 

This activity encourages creativity and helps kids identify how shapes can be used to represent different objects. 

Shape Bingo

If you want to teach shapes to preschoolers, playing shape bingo is a fun way to do this. This game will help children recognize shapes, practice matching, and build their visual and fine motor skills .  

To prepare for this activity, create a worksheet with shapes or objects representing shapes. Use colors and pictures that will grab your child’s attention. 

Give your child the bingo sheet and ask them to place a sticker or other marker on the shapes when you call them out. You can show your kid pictures of shapes, say their names, or point to real-world objects.  

Sing Shape Songs

Singing shape songs is a lively and entertaining way to help children learn about and recognize shapes. This type of activity is especially beneficial for younger kids. Songs help kids engage their imagination and improve their vocabulary. 

Singing shape songs is one of the best ways to teach shapes. Your child will develop memory skills when they repeat information, like the names of shapes. Shape songs also expand vocabulary by introducing new words and concepts.  

Many shape songs involve movements and gestures. Making this fun will help your child stay engaged and excited to learn the words. 

You can choose between great shape songs like:

• Shape Are All Around by Pinkfong Songs
• The Shapes Song by Oh My Genius
• Nashville Shapes Hoedown by Busy Beavers
• Shape Song by CoComelon
• Sing Along Shape Song by Bounce Patrol
• Shape Song by Gracie’s Corner

Shape Sorting

Shape sorting games provide a fun way to practice shape recognition and fine motor skills. It also contributes to cognitive development and improves problem-solving abilities. You can get creative when setting up a shape-sorting game. Here’s an easy-to-create game that you can adjust to your kid’s age:

• Give your child a basket containing different-shaped objects like wooden blocks , puzzle pieces, or cut-outs. 
• Ask them to sort the shapes into categories like circles, squares, and triangles.
• Make the game more challenging by asking them to color-sort the shapes too! 

This activity will practice categorizing and grouping while reinforcing their understanding of different shapes. 

The Secret to Learning Shapes: Play!

You don’t even have to look closely to figure out that rectangles, circles, squares, and triangles are around us all day. Kids who know the difference between these shapes can identify and organize visual information. This is one of the biggest reasons to start learning shapes early on. 

If you keep the activities you do around shape learning playful, I’m sure your kids will stay engaged and retain information. Remember to choose age-appropriate games and adjust your expectations for your child’s abilities.

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Free printable shapes worksheets

Inside: Free printable shapes worksheets perfect for toddlers or preschoolers.

These free printable shapes worksheets have a lot to offer if your little one is ready to learn about shapes. Because preschoolers are usually expected to recognize basic shapes by the time they enter kindergarten, helping them master this skill is essential.

So whether your toddler is only starting to learn her shapes or your preschooler needs some more practice , these printable shapes worksheets are fun and playful to work with.

Plus, they are quick and easy to print and perfect for ready-to-go shapes activities you can easily do with your toddler or preschooler at home.

Just let your child color the different shapes, trace the shapes, search & find, look for two matching shapes, or trace the dots.

Plus I’ve recently updated this post and added seven more coloring shapes worksheets for your convenience.

Shape Worksheets

Check out some of my popular shapes worksheets below:

Why shape recognition matters

If you are wondering what shapes should a preschooler know or why is teaching shapes important at such a young age, read on!

The ability to recognize shapes helps children to build a solid foundation for future reading, writing, math, and overall cognitive development.

Reading . When children are able to notice the differences among various shapes, they are very well on their way to spotting the diverse shapes of letters and numbers.

Writing . By tracing shapes, children practice different curves and lines that we typically find in letters. It is no wonder then that plenty of shape tracing practice will boost your child’s ability to learn to write. She will also strengthen her fine motor skills and gain a strong pencil grip.

Critical thinking. By comparing shapes and their characteristics, children can practice problem-solving and critical thinking. Playing shape sorting games, building puzzles, or doing cut-and-paste activities all help your child to observe and solve a shape-related problem.

To download all 20 pages of these shapes worksheets, simply click on the download link at the end under the “Get your PDF below” banner. You will get your pdf right away.

My printable shapes worksheets are the perfect go-to resource whenever you’re learning about shapes with your little one.

Make sure to let your child play around with them, choose her own colors to color them in, etc.

Let her have fun and don’t worry if she doesn’t find all the right answers. You can always come back and print them out again.

Tracing shapes worksheets

My tracing shapes worksheets are designed with young learners in mind. Most of the shapes are large and easy enough to keep toddlers’ or preschoolers’ attention.

As I mentioned earlier, tracing shapes is a building block for future writing. When children practice tracing lines and curves in different shapes, they are preparing to learn to write their letters and numbers.

So before you add any number or letter tracing activities, give your child enough opportunities for tracing shapes first.

With my worksheets, children will practice tracing these basic shapes: triangle, square, circle, rectangle, star, oval, and diamond (rhombus) .

Tracing shapes pdf

Most recently, I decided to add a few more pages to my shape tracing worksheets.

Here are the latest shape tracing worksheets:

• Trace and copy shapes
• Finish drawing the incomplete shapes

You can have a look below.

Matching shapes

Matching shapes is a great activity to encourage observation skills and problem-solving.

Especially in the house activity, children have to spot shapes within shapes. Gently encourage your child to look at the “big” shapes and “small” shapes to spot them all.

Cut out the shapes worksheet

Have your child use safety scissors to cut out these shapes to practice scissor skills. She can color them in for extra fun too.

Shapes coloring pages pdf

Next is a set of tracing and coloring shapes worksheets for recognizing circles to rectangles, ovals, and diamonds. There is a total of seven pages!

These coloring pages full of shapes are a lot of fun to do. At least my two preschoolers love them. Spotting the right shapes and coloring them in gives them a great sense of accomplishment. They always ask for more!

Shapes worksheets PDF

You can download this printable shapes worksheets bundle below. Right under the pink Planes&Balloons banner!

**Download the Shapes worksheets HERE!**

82 thoughts on “Free printable shapes worksheets”

Love the site

Oh, thank you, Lori! I really appreciate you saying that.

Thank you for these. Love it!

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I HAVE 2 KIDS, 2 AND 4 YEARS ALL, LOVE ALL THIS PRINTABLE, THANK YOU SO MUCH, WE WILL ENJOY LEARNING TOGETHER AT HOME 😀

Thank you so much , for your effort on putting this together. Is really helpful . G-d bless you.

Thank you so much for this lovely printable. I wanted to start with shape theme for my daughter. Thanks again.

I am glad you find them helpful!

Thankyu for helpfull printable 😊

Thank you so much for taking the time to make up these prints and give them for free, very much appreciated

I am glad you find them useful!

Thank you very much

Thank you so much. It gives me inspiration.

Thank you for such beautiful and fun worksheets for the little ones <3

Thank you so much! My son loves these worksheets. He keeps asking to do more!

hi. thank you for sharing this activity. my daughter enjoy doing these worksheets

After losing my dominant arm in an accident I have been trying to relearn or train myself to draw. Basic shapes will enable me to continue. Thank you.

I am glad these worksheets can be helpful to you! All the best to you!

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Thank you so much for these sheets.

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Thank you so much!Just discovered your site…great work you’re doing, my nephew loves it!

Thank You!!

Your web page is great. It is helping me give my grand daughter a better start to go to kindergarten. Thank you.

Thank you for your kind words, Beverly!

Nice and educational

Thank you thank you thank you

Dear Kristina, Thank you very much for your effort ~ Thank you~

these are awesome!! thank you so much for sharing for free. good karma to you!!

Bless you! Thank you for sharing your talents! Cindy

thank you so much for these printable. they are delightful as morning pages and fill in moments for my littles when I’m working with my oldest!

Thank you so much for making them and sharing them for free!

I really really appreciate it and my 2,5 year old really loves some of these already!

Thanks a lot for making these free, I use it for our 2 – 3 year old and they are having fun with it. They love it, thanks, with love, all the way from Nigeria.

Hi Kristina!! Thank U so much for this tool!!!! Teacher Dalvi by the other side!!

GOOD WORK, THANK YOU

Thank you so very much. This is very helpful.

Thank you so much. Not just for my kinders but my first graders as well. You are a God Send.

Thank you so much for sharing these! I’m doing preschool at home with my daughter, these are prefect!

Thank you so much for creating these worksheets!

Thank you for this printable! Twenty pages of good stuff for my child!

thankyou..this is very useful…:)

Such an amazing website Thanks for the work

Really suitable and well designed

Kristina, Thank you very much for sharing these pages. I have been looking for good shape printouts for my Pre-K class, and these are exactly what I’ve been looking for! They will be good to use to introduce the shapes and also as a review resource.

Thanks again!

So happy to find free printable worksheets to help those pre-k children in my classroom.

Thank you for this lovely printable. It is really helpful for me in teaching the theme shapes! Thanks again

These look great. How do I print them?

Hi Jessica! Just download the pdf at the bottom of the page and then print. The download link is after the green banner that says “Download your PDF below”. Best to use a desktop for PDF printing.

thank you so much… very helpful for fine motor skills of my 7years old

Thank you so much for making these. It really helped me a lot to save time of making such activities for my children.

Beings that schools are closed, would it be ok to email these printables to my families so they can do them with their children?

Yes, sure. Just please send them a link to my website too if they would benefit from more printables too. I appreciate you asking.

Thank You so much for all of these… it will help for my son’s home learning while schools are closed.

thank you so much for this! this is so great for my two little ones

Thank you so much for this! Great for my granddaughter..God bless!

Thank you dear…much appreciated.

thank u so much!

I love every sheet! Thanks for sharing all of your creative and professional work !

Thank you for your kind comment. I am glad I can share my work with families and teachers!

Great worksheets! Thank you! Is it allowed to translate the instructions to spanish?

Yes, tou may translate instructions to Spanish for your class but please don’t make changes to original worksheets.

Hi Kristine , these sheets are great but how do I save them to print

Are you by any chance using iPhone or iPad? Those devices most often block direct pdf downloads. Use a laptop or desktop, that should work no problem. The download link is always at the end of each post. Let me know if this helped!

Thank you so much these will be amazing to my kiddo’s in therapy!

Hi Ms Kristina. Thank you for all these,it was such a great help for us! God bless you more!

Thanks a lot for this pdf … It’s really helpful.. god bless you always 😇

thank you for made it free..really helps a lot! God bless you

Thank you so much! Very helpful for my 4 y/o son.

Good Work, this is helpful

Thank you for taking time to create all the the work you do and giving some of it for free. Thank you very much.

I am so happy I found this site. . I am elated. I am indeed grateful because I am presently working from home and organizing my preschoolers activities and this site makes it soooo easy. A heartfelt thank you to you and may God richly bless you.

Thank you so much for your kind words! I really appreciate it! Enjoy the worksheets!

Very helpul !!!! Great job !!!

Dear Kristina, Thank you very much for your effort and for sharing these awesome printables!! Great help for my work with my preschoolers!! Marianna from Greece.

this was very useful to a mom like me..thank you for this wonderful website i can teach my son at home. before he start to send him on kindergarten

Very helpful!

very helpful thankyou

very helpful

Thank you for sharing!

Thank you so much for creating such perfect sheets. A great help for homeschool kids and moms

A big thank you from France. My pupils are struggling with drawing shapes. All those worksheets will surely help them. 🙂

I am so glad to hear that! And Hello to France! 😉

Comments are closed.

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15 Best Shape Activities For Preschoolers in 2024

1. Shape Hunt in Your Home

2. shape sorting game, 3. nature walk shapes, 4. playdough shape creations, 5. shape collage art, 6. shape puzzle time, 7. shadow shapes game, 8. shape bingo, 9. shape stamping, 10. shape obstacle course.

Do you ever look around and notice shapes all around you? You may see a round clock on the wall, a square picture frame, or even a triangle-shaped pizza slice! Shapes are everywhere, and guess what? They’re super important for kids to learn about when they’re little.

SplashLearn: Most Comprehensive Learning Program for PreK-5

SplashLearn inspires lifelong curiosity with its game-based PreK-5 learning program loved by over 40 million children. With over 4,000 fun games and activities, it’s the perfect balance of learning and play for your little one.

So, let’s explore some of the best shape activities for preschoolers. In this blog, we will discuss some simple and fun ways to help preschoolers understand shapes like circles, squares, triangles, rectangles, and ovals. 

Shapes might seem like child’s play, but they’re a big deal. Learning about shapes isn’t just about knowing the names; it’s about sharpening young minds and setting the stage for learning all kinds of stuff in the future. So, let’s get started and make learning shapes a fun adventure for your preschooler!

Basic Introduction to Shapes

Have you ever played with your food, arranging your pizza toppings into a triangle or stacking your sandwich bread in a square? Shapes are like our secret code for understanding the world around us!

• Circle: Think of round things, like a cookie or a bicycle wheel. They’re circles because they don’t have any sharp corners.
• Square : Squares are like building blocks with four sides, all the same length. Picture a chocolate bar with four equal pieces – that’s a square!
• Triangle: Triangles are those pointy shapes, like a slice of pizza. They have three sides and three corners, like a wizard’s hat.
• Rectangle: Books are often shaped like rectangles – longer on one side, shorter on the other.
• Oval: An oval is like a stretched-out circle, like an egg.

These shapes are all around us, from the sun in the sky to the windows in your house. Now, let’s have some simple and playful fun with them!

15 Best Hands-On Shape Activities for Preschoolers

Shapes are more than just simple figures children draw; they are foundational elements of mathematics that play a crucial role in a child’s cognitive development . According to the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), preschool teachers can create an environment where children are eager to explore and learn about math, particularly shapes and space. The Common Core State Standards for Mathematics (CCSSM) emphasizes the importance of children understanding shapes by the time they leave kindergarten , highlighting activities such as analyzing, comparing, creating, and composing these shapes.

With this in mind, we’ve curated a list of engaging prek shape activities, each designed to nurture their curiosity and enhance their spatial understanding. Dive in and discover the world of shapes with your little ones!

Transform your home into an exciting shape treasure hunt for preschoolers, encouraging them to find shapes in everyday objects. This engaging activity sparks curiosity and helps children recognize and distinguish various shapes.

Materials Needed: None

Instructions: Ask your child questions like, “Can you spot a square door or a round plate?”

Make learning shapes hands-on and enjoyable with this interactive game. In the Shape Sorting Game, preschoolers sort everyday objects by their shapes, reinforcing their understanding of circles, squares, triangles, and more.

Materials Needed: Small objects (e.g., toy cars, buttons)

Instructions: Prompt your child to sort items, saying, “Let’s gather all the circles here and the squares there.”

Combine outdoor exploration with shape recognition during a nature walk, making learning shapes a delightful outdoor adventure. Preschool shapes activities like this encourage children to spot shapes in leaves, rocks, and clouds while connecting with the natural world.

Instructions: While walking, identify shapes in leaves, rocks, or clouds, saying, “Look, a triangle-shaped leaf!”

Source: @5minutesformom

Have a blast with playdough as your little one shapes basic preschool shapes like circles, squares, triangles, and rectangles. It’s a hands-on and colorful way to introduce and explore shapes while sparking creativity.

Materials Needed: Playdough in various colors

Instructions: Shape playdough into different forms and ask, “Can we make a rectangle or a triangle?”

Source: @pinterest

Shape Collage Art is a hands-on and artistic way for preschoolers to explore shapes found in the world around them. It’s a simple and enjoyable pre-k shapes activity that lets creativity shine. Create a beautiful collage using cutouts from magazines. 

Materials Needed: Old magazines, glue, paper

Instructions: Cut out shapes from magazines and arrange them to make a unique shape collage.

Source: @proeves

Enjoy a fun shape activity for preschool as you create your own puzzles . Draw shapes on cardboard, cut them into pieces, and solve them together. It encourages problem-solving skills and helps preschoolers become familiar with basic shapes.

Materials Needed: Cardboard, markers, scissors

Instructions: Draw shapes on cardboard, cut them into puzzle pieces, and have your child assemble the puzzle.

Source: @raisingchildern

The Shadow Shapes Game is a simple and one of the most fun pre-k shape activities that combines play and learning. Use a flashlight to create interesting shadows and guess the shapes they form. It’s a fun way to learn about shapes in the world around you.

Materials Needed: Flashlight

Instructions: Shine a flashlight on objects and have your child guess the shape of each shadow.

Source: @twinkl

Shape Bingo is an enjoyable and straightforward way to make geometry activities for preschoolers entertaining and educational. It turns learning shapes into a playful game that kids will love. Replace numbers with shapes on bingo cards and enjoy a fun-filled way to reinforce shape recognition.

Materials Needed: Bingo cards with shapes (you can make them)

Instructions: Play a simple bingo game, replacing numbers with shapes and enhancing shape recognition.

Source: @mothercould

Shape Stamping is an easy and enjoyable way for preschoolers to explore shapes and colors through art. It encourages creativity and helps them become familiar with various shapes.

Materials Needed: Sponges, paint, paper

Instructions: Dip sponges in paint and stamp them onto paper to make colorful shape art.

Source: @rehabshop

The Shape Obstacle Course combines physical play and shape activities for preschoolers, making learning about shapes an active and enjoyable experience. It helps children associate shapes with movement and promotes gross motor skills .

Materials Needed: Tape, cushions

Instructions: Create a tape outline of shapes on the floor, and encourage your child to jump or crawl through them.

11. Shape Treasure Map Adventure

The Shape Treasure Map Adventure adds an element of excitement and exploration to shape activities for preschoolers while making learning shapes feel like a thrilling treasure hunt. It’s a creative and engaging way to reinforce shape recognition skills in a playful manner.

Materials Needed: Paper, markers or crayons, small objects (as treasures)

Instructions: Draw a simple map with shape landmarks and have your child follow the map to find hidden treasures matching the shapes.

12. Shape Storytime

Shape Storytime is a simple and enjoyable way to introduce shape activities for preschoolers through the magic of storytelling . It helps children relate to shapes in familiar and engaging contexts while fostering a love for reading .

Materials Needed: Picture books with shapes

Instructions: Read a story with shape-themed books, pointing out and discussing the shapes you encounter.

13. Build with Blocks

Build with Blocks is a hands-on, interactive, and simple way to engage in shape activities for preschoolers. It fosters creativity, shape recognition, and bonding through constructive play.

Materials Needed: Building blocks

Instructions: Build simple structures with blocks, discussing the shapes used in the process.

14. Shape Balloon Fun

Shape Balloon Fun is a light-hearted and easy way to introduce shapes during playtime. It adds a fun twist to learning about shapes and encourages simple interactions that help preschoolers grasp the concept.

Materials Needed: Balloons

Instructions: Inflate balloons and talk about their shapes while playing catch.

15. Shape Cooking Adventure

Combine shapes and delicious treats in a Shape Cooking Adventure that’s both fun and tasty. It’s a hands-on activity that brings the joy of baking into shape activities for kids.

Materials Needed: Cookie dough, cookie cutters

Instructions: Bake shape cookies together using various cookie cutters, and discuss the shapes as you enjoy your homemade treats.

These preschool shape activities and crafts are designed to be simple, engaging, and perfect for introducing your little one to the wonderful world of shapes. 

4 Extension Ideas and Variations To Teach Your Preschooler Shapes

Now that we’ve explored some exciting preschool shape activities, it’s time to take the fun and learning even further with some creative extension ideas and variations. These simple tweaks and additional concepts will add depth to your shape activities and keep your child engaged and eager to learn. Let’s delve into these innovative extensions:

1. Incorporating Colors with Shapes

Enhance the learning experience by incorporating colors into your shape activities. You can ask questions like, “Can you find a red circle or a blue square?” This combination of shapes and colors adds an extra layer of exploration.

2. Using Real-Life Objects for Shape Recognition

Take shape recognition to the next level by integrating real-life objects. When you’re out and about, point out things that match the shapes your child is learning. For example, “Look, that stop sign is an octagon!”

3. Combining Shapes to Create New Objects

Encourage creativity and critical thinking by combining basic shapes to create new objects or creatures. Challenge your child to make a house using squares and triangles or an animal using circles and ovals.

4. Incorporating Technology with Digital Shape Activities

Embrace technology by exploring digital shape activities and apps designed for preschoolers. Many interactive apps offer shape-recognition games and puzzles, making learning more engaging.

You can customize the learning experience to suit your child’s interests and needs by infusing these extension ideas and variations into your shape activities. These adaptations add depth, creativity, and excitement to the world of shapes, ensuring that your preschooler continues to explore and grow in their understanding of this fundamental concept.

Shapes and spatial reasoning are foundational blocks in early childhood education. Dr. Sue Gifford’s insights from NRICH emphasize the profound connection between a child’s ability to understand and manipulate shapes and their mathematical development. Activities that challenge children to analyze, combine, and rotate shapes, such as puzzles and construction play, are fun and pivotal in enhancing their spatial thinking. The language we use, whether discussing the ‘curviness’ of a circle or the ‘ edges ‘ of a square, significantly deepens their understanding of shapes. Furthermore, physical activities that involve navigating spaces, constructing routes, or even simple tasks like stacking help children relate to shapes in the world around them. 

Placing shapes at its heart is essential as we craft our early years curriculum. By doing so, we’re not just teaching children about geometry but equipping them with a comprehensive toolkit of cognitive skills that will serve them well in all areas of learning.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

How do you teach shapes in preschool.

Teach shapes in preschool through hands-on activities like shape sorting and creative playdough shaping.

What are the shape concepts for preschoolers?

Shape concepts for preschoolers include recognizing common shapes like circles, squares, triangles, and rectangles, as well as understanding their properties.

How do you make shapes interesting?

Make shapes interesting for preschoolers by incorporating games , art, and outdoor exploration to engage their curiosity and creativity.

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Posted on Last updated: April 25, 2021 By: Author Kim

Categories STEM and Learning Activities with Kids

Why Children Need To Learn Shapes and the Best Activities To Help

Why teach shapes? Learn why children need to learn shapes and the best activities to help. Plus printables!

Shapes are one of those things we work on with kids from a  young age.  We teach what a circle is, a triangle, a square.  Colors, letters, numbers, shapes. 

These are some of the first things we work on with children. 

Colors are easy and fun to point out.  Numbers and letters are building blocks for their entire future. 

But why do we focus on shapes?  Are they just easy? 

There are actually some very concrete reasons for teaching toddlers and preschoolers shapes. 

Here are 5 big reasons to teach preschoolers and toddlers shapes, plus some fun printables to color or use play-doh for sensory shape fun.

What's In This Post?

Same or Different

Categorization, problem solving and spatial relations, grab these printables for more shape practice, letter recognition, shape hunts, coloring and tracing, play-doh shapes, shape sticks, i want the freebies, bonus shape practice printables, why teach shapes.

Why do we teach shapes to our children? 

It isn’t just because it is easy.  Shapes are building blocks for several bigger concepts that children will use throughout their schooling and lives. 

There are big reasons to start shape learning early.  Here are some major concepts they work.

Basic shapes like circles, triangles, and squares are distinctly different from each other.  This makes them great for practicing same and different. 

Same and different is the start of really recognizing distinctive traits objects can have.  It is also the first level of categorizing. 

Are these two objects the same or different?  This is the start of basic observation skills.

Once the basic same or different concept is down, children can move into more complicated categorization. 

What makes a circle different from a square?  This is detailed recognition of traits objects have. 

An important skill is being able to find a common characteristic among different items.  A great way to practice this is to send your child on a shape hunt. 

How many circle objects can they find? How many squares?  This shows them that shape is something that many different things can have in common. 

Categorization is an important science skill.

Shapes are a great way to introduce problem-solving skills. 

Take a shape sorter.  Your child needs to determine which shape goes in which hole, and then they need to actually fit it in. 

This works spatial relation skills as well.  How do objects fit together?  (As your children grow puzzles work the same sort of skill.  How do you recognize what piece fits where?) 

Anything that works problem-solving is helpful for children, and this sort of trait recognition is key for future science skills.

Math Skills

I feel math skills are an obvious area that gets worked when you teach your children shapes. 

Geometry is in part the study of shapes.  Having a basic understanding of them from a young age will make this math class a lot easier for kids. 

Understanding the characteristics of shapes involves a lot of counting.  How many sides does a shape have?  This easily folds in number practice when you play with your toddlers and preschoolers. 

Pattern recognition comes into play as well.  Every time you add a side you get a new shape, this is a pattern.  Being able to physically see the difference between a shape with three sides and one with five helps with number sense, a key to all math success.

( Learn more about number sense and why it matters here .)

This is one of the biggest reasons to work on shapes early.  Shapes help with letter recognition. 

Think about letters, they are very similar to shapes.  The letter V is a triangle missing a side, and the letter O is just a circle. 

Understanding what shapes are and that they have meaning starts to build literacy.  Practicing distinguishing between a square and a triangle help kids recognize between different letters. 

The same is true for reading numerals.  Having children draw shapes and working on the lines and angles needed to draw a triangle or rectangle helps them later in life when they are learning to write their letters.

Ways to Learn and Practice Shapes

There are lots of ways to practice shapes.  One of my favorite things about this topic is that you can make it more and more challenging as your child learns more and more. 

You start with circles, triangles, and squares.  Then there are pentagons, hexagons, heptagons, octagons, and more.  (This is a great lesson in prefixes too.) 

Even with just 4 sides, there are a variety of shapes to work on.  Square versus rectangle.  Trapezoids, diamonds, parallelograms. 

And don’t forget hearts, stars, crescents, and more.  There is just so much depth to this simple subject. 

Here are some fun and easy ways to work on shapes with your children.  Play is key with these.

I think we try to make teaching our children too hard sometimes.  The simplest way to work on shapes is just to talk about them. 

My mother-in-law calls the toddler years the years of two names.  Everything you share with your children has two names.  For example, you don’t just hand your child a cup you hand them the blue cup.  Or we play with the red ball. 

Whatever it is, we can naturally add descriptors that are teaching our children.  Use shapes the same way.  You can read the square book or play with the triangle magnet.  You don’t need big explanations, especially with very young toddlers. 

Just start using the vocabulary.

My kids love going on scavenger hunts.  It doesn’t matter what we are looking for, they adore it. 

So send your kids on a shape hunt! 

I have my children gather up anything that is triangle shaped, or circles.  It is easier to focus on one shape at a time with toddlers.  Preschoolers can look for more than one shape at a time, adding in sorting practice along with the shape practice. 

You don’t need anything special for this.  Regular household items and kid toys come in all shapes.  But if you want to make it more specific, try cutting shapes out of construction paper. 

Low cost and easy cleanup.

Shape sorters are a staple for a reason.  You can find them in every price range.  (In fact, Ali and Sammy’s favorite shape sorter came from Walgreens for about $5.) 

These sorters practice shape recognition, problem-solving skills, and spatial relations, all in one little toy. 

You can even make your own.  Grab some blocks or other key shapes and trace them onto a shoebox or other box.  Then cut the shapes out and let your children sort!

Coloring books and shape workbooks are a wonderful way to work on shapes.  Plus you get work on sitting still and focus skills. 

Coloring is a childhood staple that is full of benefits.  ( Learn all about the benefits of coloring here! )

While your child is coloring, talk about the shapes on the page just as you would talk about the colors they are using.  Tracing books provide additional writing practice that will come in handy when they are older.

This is one of my favorite ways to work shapes.  Sensory activities are stepping-stones for STEM skills in life, plus they help children really engage in what they are learning. 

I created some shape printables for my children.  You can laminate them and have your child fill the shapes in with Play-Doh.  ( Or slime, if you have a slime loving child .) 

I don’t have a laminator, as much as I want one.  So instead of that I purchased a few clear plastic sleeves used for binders and put the printables in those. 

Easy to put together and easy to clean up.  Head to the bottom of this post to learn how to get these for free to use with your children!

A great shape activity you can use as a busy bag activity is shape sticks!

Learn how to make them all here: Shape sticks for Preschool and Toddlers

The short version is to group sticks to make shapes and write the number of sticks needed on each group. So write 3 on three sticks for a triangle, etc. This is a great way to build independent play skills while practicing shapes!

Shapes Everywhere

Shapes are another one of those seemingly simple topics that have big implications for children.  And adults. 

Think of all the symbols and signs we can recognize just by the shape, even without words.  Octagons are stop signs.  An upside down triangle is a warning.  Hearts mean love and stars are usually a good thing. 

Shapes are such an important first step towards literacy and math skills.  Things like shapes seem so simple and basic, yet they are teaching our children more than we can imagine.

You can get these coloring pages and Play-Doh mats for your kids!  These are available for download in my free printables section.  You can gain access to all the free resources by signing up for the Team Cartwright mailing list.  Once you sign up you will get an email with the printables password.  This library contains all kinds of learning aids.  The color by number pages, train learning activities, and my Lego coding worksheets.  It also unlocks my twin tracking worksheets! Signing up also adds you to my email list, which you can, of course, unsubscribe from at any time.

Sign me up to join the team! This gives me access to the free printables and adds me to the Team Cartwright mailing list.

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Hands-on activities are amazing for learning about shapes. But worksheets can be helpful as well. These three free worksheets are great for shape practice.

Your child can practice tracing the shapes and then draw them in with the dots. Finally, practice scissor skills while you cut and paste the pictures with the proper shape. Easy and fun! (And don’t forget to let them color their shapes too.)

Get the worksheets!

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J. Ivy Boyter

Sunday 19th of August 2018

These are such great ideas for learning shapes! I particularly love the idea of the Playdoh Shapes, thank you

Saturday 18th of August 2018

I loved reading the benefits of teaching shapes, it's really not something we think about a whole lot. We just know they need to know their shapes. :-)

Krystal Miller

Monday 13th of August 2018

My daughter is 3 and knows her shapes. We had shape sorters around the house and just made a point to mention them along with colors, letters, etc.

Rebecca Hicks

I totally agree with everything you said! And I love the different activities you included on teaching shapes. They sound like fun, but also great ways to teach children all about different shapes.

I love these ideas! I will have to try some of them with my toddler. We do a lot of work with shapes and are now using them to learn patterns which has been fun.