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Teaching geometric shapes to preschoolers can have many benefits. The most well-known benefits can be listed as
∗ developing children’s creativity,
∗ providing preparation for school,
∗ supporting analytical thinking,
∗ establishing cause-effect relationships
∗ supporting categorization skills.
How To Teach Geometric Shapes
Preschoolers can learn simple shapes such as circles, triangles, squares, and rectangles. However, we educators and parents may need to assist in this process by using different materials or by analyzing the shapes with the children. So, how can we help our children to learn geometric shapes in the preschool period?
Identifying shapes: The first step in teaching our children geometric shapes can be to help them grasp the forms of shapes. E.g; It may be right to talk about the sides of triangles and to introduce them to triangles with different properties to the children.
Examples from daily life: We can teach our children, who are learning geometric shapes one by one, about the areas where these shapes appear in daily life. Asking what geometric shape a ball looks like, and similar activities can be reinforcing.
Comparing shapes: At this stage of our adventure in teaching geometric shapes, we can ask children to compare shapes in different forms. For example, by asking the differences between triangles and squares, we can help them code forms more deliberately.
Building games with geometric shapes: All we have to do for this stage is to bring together different 3D geometric shapes and play games with our children. For example, constructions can be made with small boxes and toilet paper rounds. Our children, who often surprise us with their creativity, also diversify these games and can learn while having fun.
Playing educational games: Shape bingo may be the most well-known of these games. All we have to do for this game is to put different geometric shapes in a bag and ask our children to find the shape we want by examining them with their hands.
Teaching size differences: Children who grasp 3D geometric shapes may have much less difficulty grasping 2D shapes. For this reason, we may need to make sure that our children have a good grasp of 3D shapes and forms before we start working on paper. Then, we can help them grasp 2D representations by playing games such as cutting and pasting, grouping similar shapes, or matching 3D blocks with geometric shapes on paper.
Verbal support: For children, comparing 3D objects may have become an ordinary everyday activity. However, our children, who are used to comprehending geometric shapes in 2 dimensions, can enter a deeper learning process by using words such as long-short, narrow-wide, thin-thick.
Download the worksheet for free at HERE