Seriously FUN Ways to Teach Shapes!

Shapes and geometry... two of my favorite math units to teach.  

There are so many creative ways to teach these concepts,

and let's face it, it's a whole lot more FUN than teaching 

primary students to unbundle, decompose, regroup, and 

subtract across zeros!

These are a few of my favorite high engagement,
seriously FUN ways to teach about shapes!

Connect to Popular Culture

Students relate and respond when learning is connected 

to movies, books, and songs they love! They can't help 

but to get up and move to What Does the Fox Say? especially

when you change the words to What does the SHAPE say!

Use the kid-friendly Just Dance version by Ylvis on YouTube
to introduce your unit.

Anchor the Learning

Create a What Does the SHAPE Say? chart that serves
as a lesson visual AND a game board. Use 2D or 3D shapes
to make your lesson come alive!

Find the "chart parts" and templates here

  Play a version of I Have, Who Has
for students to identify shapes and their attributes.

 Turn each piece into a removeable sticky note by 

using a repositionable glue stick!

Include Read Alouds

These are just a few of the read alouds I use and books 

I like to have available for students to read.

The Perfect Square by Michael Hall is one of my very favorites.

All of his books are treasures!

Find the books on Amazon:

Super Heroes Colors, Shapes and More

The Greedy Triangle

Magic Shapes

If I Were A Quadrilateral

Perfect Square 

If I Were A Polygon

Make Assessing Fun!

Use these shape booklets for students to describe the

attributes of  2D or 3D shapes from the shape's point of view.

It's also a great opportunity for students to apply their

 math vocabulary as they "speak" for each shape.

Find the booklets here

Incorporate Writing!

Most teachers incorporate writing into every 

subject through journals, writing centers, and various 

response activities. Here's a high engagement, 

hands-on way to step outside the journal and 

have students show what they know while 

practicing the correct use of quotation marks.

  

 

Find the shapes craft here

Animate Your Crafts!

Use the  ChatterPix app to give a voice to your learning! 

It's so simple to use and literally takes seconds to complete.  

Each child takes a picture of their work using the app on an 

iPad then follows these simple steps to record their voice.

Sometimes all it takes is a little talking mouth to

send the engagement factor SOARING!

Make A Movie!

We took it a step further and made our very own movie!

View Our Class Movie HERE

I saved each student's work in Dropbox then uploaded 

them into iMovie. You can then add a title and select from 

their music library or add your own song.  Of course we 

added the karaoke version of  What Does the Fox Say? 

that I purchased on iTunes.

Munch During Math Class!

Incorporate edible activities during your shapes unit.

Use crackers for plane shape sorting by number of sides 

and vertices then use this Free Munchie Math Printable

for students to identify the name and attributes of shapes.

Check the dollar store first when shopping for crackers.  

They almost always have all the shapes you'll need.

Download the free shapes printable here.

Incorporate A STEM Challenge

This STEM project from creeksidelearning.com

is a great addition to your shape activities. Challenge 

your students to experiment with shapes to determine

which is the strongest.

Photo credit: creeksidelearning.com

Find more information and a video of the
experiment on creeksidelearning.com.

I hope you've found some ideas you can use in your
classroom. Be sure to follow by email below so you won't
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Happy teaching friends!
This post includes affiliate links to items I use in my classroom.