Simple Shapes Game for Preschool with Masking Tape

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You’re a busy mom with at least one preschool-aged child in your home, so one of the best things you can do for yourself is keep things simple. That goes for everything from meal prep to bedtime routines, to preschool at home. That’s why I love this simple shapes game for preschool kids and the simple letter review game as well.

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Setting Up the Game.

The simple shapes game takes maybe ten minutes to set up, is super easy to play with your child, and has very low parental involvement once you get things going. What that means is this.

1. You can explain the game a few times to your child.
2. Play it with him or her a few times naming the shapes out loud frequently.
3. Then watch as your child repeats the game over and over on their own.

This game is one I can see a couple of my kids playing for hours on their own. That’s a win for both of us!

I recommend that you make the shapes out of painters tape because it is super easy to remove from almost any flooring type. Ideally, you will set up the shapes beforehand, perhaps when your child is sleeping, so that they are ready to go when it’s time to play.

However in reality, I tend to be more “fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants” and set it up last minute while my kids jump around me in excitement to see what I’m doing. Either way works so don’t stress. When it’s time, you can each choose a shape to sit on while you read a couple of stories from the list below and then get started piling on the toys.

Once your child is bored of filling the shapes with toys, you could leave the tape on the floor for one of these easy movement games later in the day. If your child needs more work learning the shapes, I highly recommend my Lego Shape Cards for tactile and kinesthetic table time play.

Add Some Books About Shapes

Books make everything better right? For a fun way to set up the simple shapes game for success, check out a couple of these books from the library and read them together before you play. Some of these you can even read on your Kindle for free!

• Round is a Tortilla: A Book of Shapes by Roseanne Thong
• Mouse Shapes by Ellen Stoll Walsh
• I Spy Shapes in Art by Lucy Mickelthwait
• Shapes by John J. Reiss
• Watch This! by Jane Godwin
• Shape Shift by Joyce Hesselberth

Games like our simple shapes game help your child with several essential developmental skills. This game builds spatial awareness and gross motor skills. At the same time, the game is very effective at helping your child learn the shapes because it is a tactile and kinesthetic experience. That means your child is touching, feeling, and moving as he or she learns.This is why we love using Lego bricks for learning activities like counting.

Here are a few ways you can increase the sensory and kinesthetic elements of the simple shapes game.

• Have your child trace the outline of the shape a few times on the floor and then in the air.
• You could your child use several different types of toys for this game to change the sensory experience. Start with blocks of some kind, then clean those up and switch to plastic animals or cars.
• If you have them, use pattern blocks to fill the shapes so that you are filling the square with squares and so on.

Materials for the Simple Shapes Game

• Painters Tape or Masking Tape
• Blocks or Toys (or both)

Instructions for the Simple Shapes Game

1. Use the masking tape to make shapes on the ground about 2 feet square.  For early learners make shapes such as a circle, square, triangle, and rectangle. For advanced learners make shapes such as a pentagon, hexagon, parallelogram, and rhombus.
2. Ask your child to cover the masking tape with their blocks or toys to create each shape outline.
3. Switch things up and ask your child to fill the entire shape with their blocks or toys instead of just the outline.