Mini Lesson Plan: The Shape Metropolis
Circle, triangle, star, or square, you can see them everywhere!
Shapes are on our toys, they’re in our food, they’re on our clothes. Everything we see around us is essentially made of different types of shapes!
Activity 1: Twinkle Trails Episode 10 — The Shape Metropolis
It’s rare that any of us look at an object and immediately think of all the shapes that it encompasses. Well, in today’s Mini Lesson Plan, shapes are the only thoughts we’ll have on our minds! Follow Miss Twinkle into the big city where the class plays a fun game of I-Spy — Shape Edition!
Mini Recap
Let’s go through a few of the shapes mentioned in the video with the help of some friends! See if you can correctly identify the shapes on each of the Twinkle Trails characters! (Answers provided at the bottom.)
Circles have one side and no corners. Can you identify some circles on lovely little Rainie?
Ovals are similar to circles. They have no sides either! They just appear a little more stretched out. Can you point out all the ovals on Borri?
Triangles have 3 sides and 3 points. Here’s little Dot! Can you point out all 4 triangles on him?
Activity 2: Shapes, shapes and more shapes!
There are an infinite number of shapes in the universe, literally. Not to worry, we’ll start from the fundamentals. Let’s take a look at some other basic shapes!
Squares have 4 equal sides and 4 equal corners.
Rectangles are similar to squares; they have 4 equal corners too.
On a rectangle, sides that face each other are equal. Adjacent sides can be of different lengths.
A trapezoid is a 4-sided shape with at least 1 pair of parallel lines.
Parallel lines are lines that never touch; parallel lines are always the same distance apart. Can you identify which lines are parallel in Leero’s trapezoid?
An octagon has 8 sides. For a shape to qualify as an octagon, it must have 8 straight sides and 8 equal angles. When a word starts with “octo-”, it means it has 8. One animal that famously has “octo-” in its name is the octopus because it has 8 tentacles!
Memory Game
This exercise in identifying, remembering, and matching shapes to each other will be a fun brain tease for your little one!
Twister with Shapes
Have yourself a DIY game of Twister! Put a twist on the game by calling out shapes as well as colours!
Activity 3: Using Shapes Creatively
Recognising shapes is important in early childhood development and reinforcement is key! It can be as simple as pointing out shapes in the environment (e.g. “Look at the heart on your shirt.” or “Do you want your sandwich cut into triangles?”). Children can be greatly receptive to learning through personal experiences!
Mr Polygon
Now that you’re a shape professional, you’re ready to take on this creative activity!
1. Cut out shapes. Use the same colour for the same shapes so that they’re easier to identify. Click here for the printable template of the shapes in several different sizes! It’ll be great to vary the sizes of each shape too! For example, you can have big triangles and small triangles so that the kids have more options!
2. (Optional) Laminate the shapes so that you can reuse them!
3. Put the shape cutouts together to create images! We’ve got a couple of ideas to get you started!
Sponge Stamps
Explore using shapes in painting with DIY stamps! These homemade sponge stamps can be made with inexpensive materials, and they make for an arty afternoon with your little ones!
Contact Paper Shape Art
Review shapes and create totally unique art pieces ! It also engages sensory play, particularly with touch and sight.
Activity 4: STEAM and Shapes
Shapes are incredibly important to many industries, such as architecture and engineering! Knowledge of shapes helps us solve real-life problems. In this activity, you and your kids can sit down to solve logical problems with shapes too!
Shaping Popsicle Sticks
All you need for this simple and highly effective activity is some coloured popsicle sticks and play dough (or blue tac).
You can customise your tools by using a variety of materials such as straws and coloured matchsticks. Play around and discover which materials are easier used for building! For example, since straws are much lighter than popsicle sticks, how much more or less play dough will be needed to hold the structure in place?
Shape Hunt
By getting hands-on with this activity, the kids can learn by feeling the shapes, curves and pointed edges. For an extra challenge, let your kids carry out this activity blindfolded!
We hope that the Twinkle Trails class gave you an exciting start to the world of shapes! Feel like this Mini Lesson Plan helped to shape your mind? If so, do your fellow teachers, parents, and shape enthusiasts a favour — share this post with them! Or just share this post with generally everyone on Facebook, and Instagram, and Pinterest! Myspace if you still have that, too.
Mini Recap: Shape Metropolis Answers
