Chubbie Cubbie's Fun with Shapes

Activity name:
Shapes for Lunch

Materials needed:
Slice of pizza (triangle)
Peas (circle)
Slice of American cheese (square)
Graham cracker (rectangle)
Grapes (oval)

Preparation:
Make lunch. J

Carrying out the activity:
Talk about how each item at lunch as a shape.

Activity name:
Shape Sort

Materials needed:
Small objects either different colors & sizes or hard & soft objects
Box to hold items
Medium sized bowls

Preparation:
Mix up the objects and place them in the box. Place the box next to the bowls.

Carrying out the activity:
Have the children take turns sorting the items the way you ask them to such as by shape, color, hard, soft, etc.

Activity name:
Tell Me What's Missing.

Materials needed:
Small objects of the same shape
Tray
Cloth approx. 2 times bigger than the tray

Preparation:
Place objects on tray.

Carrying out the activity:
Ask the children to look closely at the objects. Cover the tray and carefully remove one of the objects. Uncover the tray and ask the children if they know what is missing.

Activity name:
Mail Me a Shape

Materials needed:
Index cards to be used as letters
Envelopes large enough for the index cards
Paper bags or plain boxes to be used as mailboxes
Crayons or markers

Preparation:
Draw and color a shape (for instance a red circle) on an index card, envelope, and bag or box. Make two or three more cards, envelopes, bags or boxes with the same shape but in different colors (for instance blue, yellow, and green circles). Continue in this manner until you have several sets of different shapes in the same sets of colors used in your first set.

Carrying out the activity:
Tell the children they are mail carriers. Explain to them that they need to place a letter (index card) into an envelope and then mail it by placing it into a bag or box. There are many ways of doing this activity. The letters may be sorted by shape, color, by a certain shape of a particular color, etc. You choose how the children should sort and mail them. For instance, tell them you want them to mail all of the circle shapes by placing a circle letter in a circle envelope (of any color) and mailing it in any mailbox with the circle shape on it. Or, you might ask the children to match up each color shape with its coordinating envelope and mailbox.

Activity name:
Shape Scavenger Hunt

Materials needed:
Pictures of shapes

Preparation:
None

Carrying out the activity:
Show the children a picture of a shape such as a rectangle. Take them on a scavenger hunt to look for items that are the same shape. This can be done in the classroom, the entire center or school, or even outside.