Shapes All Around

This is something that I have been doing with my kiddos since I started teaching. I really enjoy teaching about shapes because it’s concrete and there is  just so much you can do with 2-D and 3-D shapes. There are also some great resources.

A book that I always read to kick off 3-D shapes is Captain Invincible and the Space Shape. It’s always a huge hit!

Surely you have already seen this on YouTube, but just in case…this is another way to grab their attention when introducing or reviewing 3-D shapes. Just be prepared for it to be stuck in your head for the remainder of the day.

Something else they love doing is bringing their own 3-D shapes from home. I send this letter home a week in advance to give parents and kiddos times to hunt for the shapes. I used to have pyramid on there, but it seemed more difficult than it was worth for them to hunt for pyramids at home. The only pyramid that they could ever seem to find was the Toblerone candy bars. I’m pretty sure parents went out to specifically buy them for this activity…which totally defeated the purpose.

20 minutes later…you know why there are no pyramids on the homework. {click on it to grab it for free}

The day it is due, I have them sort on different tables. We walk around and observe the different properties of each shape and the objects that they found. Sometimes, I have them take a clipboard with them and write down their observations of each shape. Most of the time, we zip through it pretty quick to avoid tears of someone else touching something that doesn’t belong to them. I tell them to squeeze their fingers behind their back, but that usually lasts a whooping 30 seconds.

Here they are today sorting.

What fabulous fun things do you do in your room to teach 2-D and 3-D shapes?

Do tell 🙂