Shape Activities for Preschoolers to Do at Home
Are you looking for shape activities for preschoolers to do at home? Then, you’re in the right place! If you’re teaching shapes to your preschoolers this school year, check out my printable shape activities to help you get started.
Then, keep the learning fun going with hands-on shape recognition activities and games. Learning about shapes is an important early math skill for preschool students. You can add fine motor skills practice and develop early literacy skills with fun shape activities for preschoolers and a few great books about shapes.
Keep going to discover tips for teaching shapes and get printable shape activities for preschoolers at home. Plus, get the scoop on some of my favorite resources and toys for teaching shapes to preschool learners.
Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate, I may earn commissions from purchases made through links in this post at no cost to you.
How to Teach Shape Recognition at Home
I like to begin teaching shape recognition with simple shapes preschoolers see every day in their environment. At home, you can teach shapes by pointing out that doors are rectangles and toy balls are spheres. Ask your preschoolers to look around the room and find shapes they recognize too.
You can even go on a shape scavenger hunt around your home! It’s a great way to teach your preschool learners that shapes are everywhere. Find more fun ways to teach shapes through play in my How to Teach Shapes article.
My Favorite Printable Shape Activities
Looking for a fun way to practice recognizing different shapes with your little learners? Check out my favorite printable activities for practicing basic shapes. I just know you’ll find the perfect fun activity to help your preschool students learn new shapes!
Shape Coloring Pages
Coloring pages are an excellent way to help your kids develop concentration and critical fine motor skills. Each of these shape coloring pages includes real objects for kids to compare as well. It’s an easy way to show your preschoolers that shapes are everywhere.
Geoboard Shapes
Geoboard shape activities for preschoolers at home provide an engaging task that’s filled with fine motor skill-building opportunities. This printable geoboard shape activity is perfect for helping preschool learners develop coordination and spatial skills while creating various shapes.
My Shape Book
Engage emergent readers and practice early literacy skills while learning about shapes at home with this printable shape book. This shape book is a great opportunity for young kids to practice shape identification and learning shape names. Preschool classroom teachers can print these cute little books and send them home for shape activities for preschoolers at home.
Want more shape books you can share with your preschool learners? Check out my favorite books about shapes to use with preschool shape activities in the resources section below.
Shape Playdough Mats
I love using playdough mats with preschool learners! Playdough shape mats are great for sensory play with young children. Manipulating and kneading the dough helps little hands build finger strength, coordination, and a strong foundation for handwriting later.
Shape Road Mats
My printable shape road mats are a wonderful way to practice forming new shapes! Kids will love tracing the outlines of shapes with toy cars. Then, practice shape recognition by identifying the real-life shapes at the bottom of the page with your preschoolers.
Shape Dot Markers
Dot markers are so fun! They’re perfect for little hands that are still developing the dexterity needed to grip a pencil. Plus, there’s very little mess involved with dot marker activities. My dot marker shape printables are the best thing for building fine motor skills, getting creative, and encouraging kids to identify new shapes!
Don’t have dot markers? You can do these shape activities for preschoolers at home in lots of different ways. Pipe cleaners, popsicle sticks, or stickers can be used to form shapes with these printable shape templates too.
All these printable shape activities for preschoolers at home are so much fun! You can get the bundle of 8 Great Shape Activities to get started developing these important skills with your preschoolers today. Plus, check out more of my favorite hands-on shape activities below.
Shape Activities for Preschoolers at Home
There are so many great shape activities you can do at home with preschoolers! Check out some of my favorite shape activities to do at home for practicing a variety of shapes with preschool learners.
Shape Hunt
To host a shape hunt for your preschoolers, have kids look for pictures and real objects that are different shapes. Learning how to describe shapes and discriminate between different kinds of shapes will help prepare your preschoolers for more complex math skills as they enter kindergarten and elementary school.
Talk about their favorite things with them and the shapes they see in these objects. For example, what shape do you see in a coveted slice of pizza? What shape is their favorite storybook?
Construction Paper Shapes
This is a great activity for practicing shapes when you don’t have lots of prep time. Draw a simple two-dimensional shape on a piece of white paper. Let your preschooler choose a colored construction paper and a glue stick.
Then, have your preschooler tear the construction paper into small pieces. Preschoolers will glue each tiny piece to form the shape on their paper. It’s a lot of fun and perfect for building fine motor skills too!
Shape Crafts with Paper Plates
This simple shape craft is good for practicing scissor skills with little learners at home. You’ll need crayons or markers, paper plates, and scissors. Have preschoolers draw shapes in the center of the paper plates and color the entire plate. Then, cut out the shapes at the center for extra practice.
Make a Shape Necklace
You can use wooden lacing beads to make shape necklaces for a simple shape activity for preschoolers at home. These shape necklaces will be so much fun for preschoolers to use as they practice their shapes each day!
Plus, they’ll develop strong finger muscles as they thread each bead on their shape necklace.
More Shape Crafts and Activities for Preschoolers
If you’re looking for more fun shape activities for preschoolers at home, you’ll want to try out my shape crafts for kids! Here are a few of my favorite shape crafts for preschoolers to make at home:
Shape Hats
These aren’t just your ordinary hats. These printable shape hats are perfect for preschoolers to decorate with real-life shapes they cut out and color.
It’s a fantastic way for them to recognize and learn about circles, triangles, squares, and many more 2D shapes! The best part is you can download these hat crafts for free with my free shape printables.
So, grab some colored pencils, scissors, and glue let’s dive right into shape-filled fun.
Feed the Shape Monster
This shape monster activity is the perfect way to get your preschoolers up and moving! Give them a variety of shapes to feed the shape monster. I like to make a large shape monster out of cardboard and cut a hole for the mouth.
Then, your preschoolers can feed the shape monster according to your instructions. Give directions like “The shape monster only wants to eat circles.” It’s a great way to practice shape recognition with your preschoolers and test their mastery of two-dimensional shapes.
Seasonal Shape Crafts for Preschoolers at Home
If you thought those shape hats were fun, get ready to get crafty with my seasonal shape crafts!
Fall Shape Crafts
As the leaves start to change and that crisp fall air rolls in, we can use our trusty 2D shapes to whip up some spooktacular crafts.
Use a square and rectangle to form the face and neck of Frankenstein, and a triangle for a wicked witch’s hat.
Winter Shape Crafts
Don’t pack away those 2D shapes when winter snowflakes start to fall. Shapes are here to stay and play!
Transform circles into a jolly snowman or perhaps triangles into a twinkling Christmas tree. Oh, and reindeer antlers made of simple shape rectangles!
These simple shape crafts are total cuteness overload and easy shape activities for kids at home!
School Shape Crafts
When back-to-school season hits and you’re on the lookout for some classroom-friendly crafts, shapes got your back. A triangle-topped rectangle becomes the cutest pencil and circles and rectangles come together to form a bus ready to roll.
With a little creativity, the oval becomes a juicy apple waiting for its first day of school!
As you can see, you need to keep those shapes handy, because we’re crafting all year round!
Books, Toys, and Games for Teaching Shapes
In addition to the hands-on activities mentioned above and all the fun printable shape activities for preschoolers at home, check out the picture books and shape games below. These teaching resources and toys are easy to add to your everyday life with preschoolers and filled with shape learning fun!
Best Shape Books
Discover the very best picture books about shapes you can read aloud to your little learners in my list of Shape Activities for Preschoolers. Some of my favorite titles include This Is a Book of Shapes by Kenneth Kraegel and My Very Silly Monster Book of Shapes by Tim Read.
Shape Memory Game
Memory games help preschoolers develop critical thinking skills and concentration. Practice shapes at home with a fun shape memory game to build thinking skills and practice early math concepts at the same time.
Kinetic Sand Shapes
Kinetic Sand is so much fun! Plus, it’s easier to clean up than playdough. You can use kinetic sand with my printable shape playdough mats.
Wooden Pattern Blocks
Have you tried tangrams with your preschoolers? Wooden pattern blocks like tangrams are great for practicing patterns and learning about shapes with young children.
Did you find the perfect activity for learning about shapes with preschoolers? Do you have favorite shape activities for preschoolers at home?
Share your favorite favorite new ways to learn about shapes in the comments. I can’t wait to read them!
