Place The Spiders In Their Correct Spots |A Shape Activity For Young Children

by learningstepbystep | Apr 5, 2023 | DIY Crafts & Activities | 0 comments

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Well, I am not really a fan of spiders, but I really think this spider shape activity is absolutely cute!

Spring is officially here, and my girls and I have started exploring books about bugs, spiders and insects.

My girls believe spiders are super cool, so I thought, why not create an activity for us to review shapes since they have so much interest in them? Here you have it.

Place the Spiders in their correct spots|A Shape-building Activity

Some ways in which knowing shapes help our little ones are:

To Identify objects that are the same and different.
To sort and categorize objects.
To use descriptive vocabulary.

There are so many opportunities in our environment that we should be using daily to teach our little ones their shapes.

When teaching young children about shapes, it is best to do so through play and real-life experiences.

Children need to practice manipulating the various shapes, which is key to ensuring that when they do learn their shapes, their learning is concrete.

Below are six simple ways you can use the environment to teach shapes to your little ones.

Discussing the shape of a circular plate your child is eating from.
Discussing the shape of the food they are eating. (A slice of cheese, watermelon or pizza.)
Discussing the shape of a square or rectangular book they are reading.
Observing shapes on household items.
Providing your child with puzzles focused on teaching shapes.
Observing and discussing shapes that are on clothing.

When children are given first-hand experiences in manipulating shapes in different orientations, they will begin to notice them in the environment around them.
Always keep in mind that the teaching of shapes goes beyond your child’s ability to identify shapes by their names. Over time, as we teach and expose our children to shapes, our end goal should always be for them to describe each shape by discussing their properties comfortably.

Materials you will need to recreate this activity:

Learning journal
Black construction paper
Googley eyes
Red and white paint markers
Scissors
Glue

How to recreate this simple activity:

Step 1: Use a pencil to draw the shapes you want your little one to learn or review on your black construction paper.

Step2:Use your scissors to cut out all your shapes.

Step 3:Trace the shapes into your journal and add legs for each spider.

Step 4: Glue the googley eyes onto the spiders and draw on smiley faces with your red chalk marker.

Children worked to place the shape spiders in their correct spots.

Child identifies and discusses the properties of all the shapes.

Children are happy after completing their activity by helping the spiders to find their spots! These are the happiest spiders I have seen so far! I think they are happy it is spring!

Below are five of our favourite books that we used to explore shapes, and we want to share them with you.

The Shape Of Things By Dayle Ann Dodds

“A square is just a square until you add a roof, two windows and a door, then it is much more!” in this well-thought-out book.

Each basic shape is beautifully illustrated on its own, and on the following page, your child will get an opportunity to observe how the shape being focused on can be found in their environment. The pictures of the things found in the environment are paper collage art to show children how circles, triangles and squares form parts of things they see daily.

Shapes Shapes Shapes By Tana Hoban

Shapes Shapes Shapes lends itself to so much exploration of any home environment. The author uses real-life pictures of objects that can be found in most homes.

Mouse Shapes Ellen Stoll Walsh

In Mouse Shapes, three mice hide from a cat in a pile of bright, colourful shapes .

Once the threat subsides, the mice manipulate the shapes to create items in their environment. “We can make things with them. Here’s a square. A triangle on top makes it a perfect house for a little mouse.”

The Shape of Me and Other Stuff By Dr. Seuss

The Shape Of Me and Other Stuff, with its illustrations in silhouette, aims to accent the outlines of figures and is a great way to teach our little ones that everything in our environment has a special shape. In this book, your little one will be encouraged to ponder shapes they would not normally consider: “Just think about the shape of bugs, a ballon, a bed and a bike!”

Not A Box By Antoinette Portis

In this book, a bunny is using his imagination to enjoy his “Not Not Not Just a box!” The bunny is asked in the beginning of the story, “Why are you sitting in that box?” What might look like an ordinary carton is actually a race car, a mountain, a burning building, a spaceship or anything else the imagination might dream up. The text is super simple, and in no time, your little one will be listing all the rectangular things the bunny is imagining his carton to be.

Send us pictures of your little ones doing this activity so that we can share them in this article!😊

We do hope you find this activity useful. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us by sending us a message or visiting us @learning.stepbystep on Instagram, Learning Step By Step on Facebook and be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel for educational resources that will help you and your littles on their learning journey as they continue to Learn Step By Step!

Thank you for being here!

Kimberlee and the Learning Step By Step Team.