Shapes Lesson Plan Activities for Preschool and Toddlers

Circle/Quiet Time: Important concepts this week include shape recognition, color recognition and reinforcement as well as working together. I always include books and DVD's as part of my quiet learning and read aloud to my children or allow them to look at the books independently. It is so much fun to see the young preschooler make up her own stories while she is reading.

Books/DVD's : This week you may want to include:

Shapes and Colors by Susan J. Schneck $4.98 from Amazon.com

Colors, Shapes, and More by Hooked on Phonics $3.79

Blue's Clues - Shapes And Colors (1996) available at most libraries for free

Baby Einstein - Discovering Shapes (2002)

Sesame Street: Guess that Shape and Color $9.99, but I got at the library for free for one week

Shapes Slide and Seek by Chuck Murphy (great fun, board book where you look and flip to find the shapes.

Snack: Some snacks this week to teach shape recognition can include:

Circles: Pineapple rings or sugar cookie's

Rectangles: Fudge graham crackers or if you don't want them to have chocolate allow them to spread icing or peanut butter on the rectangles of graham crackers

Triangles: Cut pieces of cheese in triangles, serve with round, triangle or rectangle crackers : Variation: Use different shaped cookie cutters and have children press and cut from premade cookie rolled flat dough different shapes. Bake in oven and serve.

House Shaped Snack: Using a piece of bread for the base of the house, use a triangle of cheese for roof, include squares cut out of lunch meat for windows and doors, and pickle rounds just for fun.

Letter of the Week: Choose any one of the letters not used yet, you may want to use C for Circle, R for Rectangle, T for Triangle.

Colors of the Week: Use this week to reinforce all the colors while creating your own personal shape book. Color recognition lesson plans are also available at Teaching Your Toddler and Preschooler Colors.

Music

Ring around the Rosy: Ring around the Rosy, Pocket full of Posy Ashes Ashes We all fall down. . . but do you know the second verse?

Or you can do, as the second verse, "the cows are in the meadow eating butter cups, thunder, lightning we all stand up

What Shape is This? Sung to Do You Know the Muffin Man?

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star: Tried and True, but children just love it.

Rectangle Song sung to the Tune of London Bridge

Two sides short and two sides long, Repeat 3 times

We're a rectangle.

Our 4 sides are just the same, just the same, just the same, our four sides are just the same, We're a square.

We've got three corners and three sides, see our sides with your eyes. We got three corners and three sides, We're a triangle.

We're as round as we can be, we can be, we can be. We're as round as we can be, we're a circle.

For prompts create shape "signs" and hold them up as you sing together.

Musical Shapes (Chairs)

Play music on a CD player. Tape shapes to the seats of the chairs in your classroom. When the music goes off everyone sits down. The person left standing, is out. Ask each child what shape they are sitting on, then give positive reinforcement and correction as they get the answer right.

Visit my Content Page for more Lesson Plans on Holidays, Zoo, Colors, and more themes. Look for my content on gross and fine motor skills, manipulative's and Shaped Themed Crafts for your toddler or preschooler for parents and teachers on Associated Content.