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Kindergarten Shapes Activities

22 kindergarten shapes activities. Teacher favorites: Circle Cut Outs and Triangle Cut Outs. How teachers use these

Kindergarten Shapes Activities

22 kindergarten shapes activities. Teacher favorites: Circle Cut Outs and Triangle Cut Outs. How teachers use these

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ActivityKindergartenCircle Cut Outs

These Circle Cut Outs will quickly give you templates for classroom decoration or student activities.

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ActivityKindergartenTriangle Cut Outs

This triangle cut outs activity has children sort 12 shape cards and cut out big triangles. Made for Preschool to 2nd Grade, with an answer key included for quick checking.

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ActivityKindergartenStar Cut Outs

This star cut outs activity lets PreK to 1st grade children count star points and sort star cards, then color and cut big stars. A practice page and answer key included.

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ActivityKindergarten2D 3D Flat Shapes Solid Figures Activity

Children sort shape cards into flat shapes and solid figures in this 2d 3d flat shapes solid figures activity for kindergarten to 2nd grade, with a practice page and answer key included.

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ActivityKindergartenMaking New Shapes Activity

This making new shapes activity helps K to 2nd grade students build and name composite shapes with cut-out pieces and self-check cards, answer key included.

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ActivityKindergartenMaking Shapes From Shapes Activity

This making shapes from shapes activity helps K through 2nd grade students build bigger shapes from triangles, rhombuses, trapezoids and squares. Answer key included.

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ActivityKindergartenApple Shape Book Activity

This apple shape book activity lets K-2nd grade children color, cut out and write their own apple story on cover, picture and writing pages with kid-sized lines.

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ActivityKindergartenDefining Shapes Category Activity

This defining shapes category activity has K-1st grade students sort shape cards onto shape mats by their defining attributes, with a practice page and answer key included to build strong shape sense.

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ActivityKindergartenName that Shape Sorting Activity

This name that shape sorting activity lets PreK to 1st Grade students sort 25 colorful shape cards under five shape names, with a practice page. Answer key included.

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ActivityKindergartenHouse Shape Book Activity

This house shape book activity helps K-2nd Grade children color, draw and write their own story about home, then cut out and staple the house pages into a book to share.

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ActivityKindergartenBarn Shape Book Activity

This barn shape book activity helps K-2nd Grade children color, draw and write their own farm story, then cut out and staple the barn pages into a book to share.

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ActivityKindergartenK.G.2 Common Core Activity

Using K.G.2 Common Core Activity, students name and sort shapes on cards to learn shape names and attributes.

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ActivityKindergartenBoy Shape Book Activity

This boy shape book activity helps K-2nd Grade children color, draw and write their own story, then cut out and staple the boy-shaped pages into a book to share.

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ActivityKindergartenBalloon Cut Outs

These balloon cut outs give children big oval balloons to color, cut and turn into a birthday book or a pattern garland. A fun art and shapes activity for preschool to 2nd grade.

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ActivityKindergartenDominoes Same Different Shapes Activity

UsingDominoes Same Different Shapes Activity, students match dominoes by finding two shapes that are the same.

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ActivityKindergartenFlower Shape Book Activity

Using this Flower Shape Book Activity, your students can create quick and simple books about themselves or stories about flowers or Springtime.

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ActivityKindergartenComputer Shape Book Activity

This computer shape book activity helps K-2nd Grade children color, draw and write their own story about computers, then cut out and staple the pages into a book to share.

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ActivityKindergartenComparing Shapes Sorting Activity

This comparing shapes sorting activity has kindergarten and 1st grade children sort 12 object picture cards by the solid shape they look like. Answer key included for easy checking.

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ActivityKindergartenBuilding Objects with Shapes Activity

This building objects with shapes activity has Kindergarten to 2nd Grade children build six flat shapes with crayons, then count sides and corners on a recording sheet. Answer key included.

From our teachers' playbook

Circles, squares and shape hunts

What do kindergarteners learn about shapes?

Kindergarteners learn to name flat (2D) shapes like circles, squares, triangles, rectangles and hexagons, and solid (3D) shapes like cubes, cones, cylinders and spheres. They learn that a shape is still a triangle whether it's big, small or turned upside down. They describe shapes by counting sides and corners (a triangle has 3 sides and 3 corners), compare flat and solid shapes, and build new shapes by putting smaller ones together. The click moment comes when a child points at a soup can and announces "cylinder!"

Our favorite ways to teach shapes

Shapes are all around us. These moves turn your classroom into a shape museum.

A shape song a day

Play the shapes song and have kids draw each shape in the air as it's sung. Then hold up a real object and ask which shape it is. Songs plus movement help kids remember names and features.

Why it works: words set to a repeating melody are easier to recall than the same words spoken (Wallace, 1994).

Shapes SongTry it withShapes SongSongsOpen it →

Fold a real cube

Kids cut out and fold a paper cube, counting its faces as they go. Holding a 3D shape they made themselves shows how flat squares become a solid. Keep them for sorting games later.

Why it works: kids understand an idea best when they touch it, then draw it, then write it, the order the U.S. Department of Education recommends for elementary math.

Paper Cube TemplateTry it withPaper Cube TemplateWorksheetsOpen it →

Shape flash and find

Flash a shape card, then give kids ten seconds to find something in the room with that shape. Include rotated and skinny triangles so kids learn that turning a shape doesn't change its name.

Why it works: children learn more from words and pictures together than from words alone (Mayer, 2009).

Shapes Flash CardsTry it withShapes Flash CardsFlash CardsOpen it →

What's on this page

Teacher favorites right now: Circle Cut Outs, Triangle Cut Outs and Star Cut Outs.

Questions parents and teachers ask us

What shapes should kindergarteners know?

Kindergarteners learn 2D shapes like circles, squares, triangles, rectangles and hexagons, and 3D shapes like cubes, cones, cylinders and spheres. They also describe shapes by sides and corners.

What is the difference between 2D and 3D shapes?

2D shapes are flat, like a drawing of a circle. 3D shapes are solid and can be held, like a ball. Kids learn that a 2D square is a face of a 3D cube.

How do I teach shapes to a kindergartener at home?

Go on a shape hunt around the house: plates are circles, doors are rectangles, cans are cylinders. Building with blocks and cutting shapes out of paper are great practice too.

Why does my child say a turned square is a diamond?

It's a very common mix-up! Show that turning a shape doesn't change it: it still has 4 equal sides and 4 corners. Rotate shapes often during play so kids see them every way.