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Originally Posted On: https://bippermedia.com/why-do-children-need-to-learn-about-shapes/
Shapes are a fundamental skill that every child needs to learn. Teaching shapes have many benefits in the development of children that will help them thrive as they age. Some advantages of teaching shapes are improving early math skills, problem-solving skills, writing skills, worldly associations, spatial relations, and distinctions. Below, you will learn why shapes have these benefits and why you should begin teaching your child what shapes are.
The Basic Shapes and How to Describe Them to Your Child
- Circle: Round with no edges
- Square: Four sides and four corners
- Triangle: Three sides and three corners
- Star: Ten sides and five corners
- Diamond: Four sides and four corners
- Rectangle: Four sides and four corners. It is a longer version of a square.
Early Math Skills
All shapes have sides and each of them except for circles has corners. Teaching shapes to children at an early age gives them an introduction to math skills. Each shape has a distinct amount of sides and corners. When children draw and play with shapes, they begin to understand the association between numbers and shapes. For example, a triangle has three sides. A child can count out these three sides and when asked to draw the shape, they will know that three points and three sides make a triangle. To enhance their math skills, you can ask your child to count out the sides and corners of each shape. With time, the child will connect numbers with shapes.
Learning shapes will improve your child’s understanding of geometry. Geometry is the mathematical study of shapes and their relationships. For many high school students, geometry is a required course to graduate. By introducing shapes early you can help make geometry easier for them in the future.
Problem-Solving Skills
Shapes are a great way to teach problem-solving skills. Think of a shape sorter game. The game consists of multiple different wooden or plastic 3D shapes and a tray with cutouts. Each cutout can only fit one specific shape. For example, a star-shaped hole can only fit the star-shaped piece. This game teaches your child how objects fit together and which shapes don’t go together.
Problem-solving skills are grown as the child learns what to do if a shape does not fit in one of the holes. The child will have to use critical thinking and question “if it does not go here, where does it go?” By trying to fit the shape in each hole, they will start to recognize where each piece of the puzzle goes.
Writing Skills
Have you ever noticed that some shapes look similar to letters? For example, a circle closely resembles an “O” and a triangle looks like an “A”. Having your child practice drawing shapes will help improve their writing skills as they age. The action of tracing shapes educates children on how to handle a pencil and create straight lines. Many of the curves and lines they draw are comparable to letters in the alphabet. Tracing shapes is an important way to prepare children for writing letters and numbers.
To engage your child in an educational activity that will benefit their writing and fine motor skills, try this activity. Firs, you will want to purchase some shaving cream from the store. Spray some of the shaving cream on a desk or clean surface and spread it out. Guide your child’s finger in the cream and help them draw a shape. Smooth out the cream again and ask them to re-write the shape themselves. This will help them memorize how each shape looks. Once your child understands how a shape is drawn, you can replace the shaving cream with a pencil and paper.
Worldly Associations
Shapes are found all around us. You can find shapes everywhere you look. For a child, there are many benefits to understanding what shapes common objects are. The association between an object and a shape is not only an important way to teach children what shapes are, but they also serve as worldly examples of why children need to learn shapes. Shapes are used in everyday life and knowing what shape common objects are is a necessary skill.
To begin teaching your child about the shapes of objects, start with one object for each shape. For example, a triangle can be correlated to an ice cream cone or a circle to a soccer ball. Once every shape has an object then play games of repetition with your child on which shape looks like which object. Once they comprehend this, you can start asking them what other objects look like in certain shapes.
Spatial Relations
Spatial relations teach children about the size of objects compared to other objects. For example, if both objects are the same size would a square or a triangle be larger? This also incorporates learning what shapes can fit into other shapes. This can help with math concepts in the future and allow children to understand how one shape can be turned into another one. For example, if you cut a rectangular piece of paper at a slant, you can produce two triangle pieces of paper.
Distinctions
Shapes help teach children to identify visual information. When a child correlates a shape like a triangle to having three sides or a square with having four sides, they begin to understand the distinctions between one shape and another. This will help them categorize shapes by paying attention to the small details that each shape has. Learning distinctions will benefit your child by helping them become detail-oriented. People who learn to be detail-oriented pay close attention to their tasks and overall produce high-quality work. It is advantageous to teach your child how to possess attention to detail at an early age so that it may help them become successful later on.
A good way to help teach your child distinctions between shapes is to play pattern games. Draw out two shapes over and over again on a piece of paper. For example, star, rectangle, star, rectangle. Then ask your child what shape will come next and why. Not only does this make them focus on the differences between two shapes, but it also helps to increase their attention to detail by making them identify a pattern and discover how the pattern will continue.
There are many reasons why children need to learn about shapes. Understanding what shapes are, how they look, and why they are important is essential to a child’s development. To help teach your child about shapes, check out The Learning Experience’s I Spy a Circle video in the Bubbles and Friends YouTube channel.
