Even babies can tell the difference between a circle and a square, using sight and touch to tell them apart. However, learning the names of the different shapes is not an innate skill, but it is a necessary step in the education of your preschooler. Children need to learn the names of shapes so that they can identify them verbally and in writing and compare the different shapes and how they are used. These are basic skills that they will use for the rest of their lives.

Learning shapes helps your child identify objects and letters. The letters are made up of circles, triangles, and lines; Think of the circles at b, d, g, p, q, or the parts of a triangle that lie at k, v, and w. Drawing the curved lines of a circle or an oval shape helps your child write letters like f, u, m, n, j, and the lines in squares help your child write i, l, k, p, q, etc. . Often times, recognizing letter shapes helps a child to recognize letters as well, which is important for developing reading skills.

Drawing shapes is also the first step in learning to draw. Almost anything can be divided into shapes, such as a house, a cat, a book, a ball; they can all be drawn in simple shapes. This makes it easier for your child to progress from stick drawings to more detailed works of art, and if he is talented, he will also use shapes to draw and paint in the future.

Shapes are extremely important in basic and more advanced math. Most adults will think of geometry immediately, but shape patterns and spatial perception help your child develop sequencing and logic skills that he will use later in his school career in subjects like calculus.

We use shapes every day as adults, although we may not realize it. Consider rearranging the furniture in the living room, cleaning the kitchen cabinets or the refrigerator, all according to the shape of the items they contain and how they will relate to each other. Road signs and markings make extensive use of different forms, which helps us recognize them before we can read them.

Learning about shapes includes learning about two-dimensional and three-dimensional shapes. A sphere, or ball, is a 3D circle and has specific properties, such as the ability to roll, that some other shapes do not. This is true for all shapes, and your child will be able to make this progression if his basic foundation is good.

By kindergarten, children are expected to know basic shapes, recognize them, and identify how they are part of other elements. They can also be expected to be able to draw the shapes, not perfectly, but certainly recognizable. There are many ways to encourage and help your child learn about shapes.

Because shapes surround us, it’s easy to play ‘Find the Shape’ at home, in the car, at the store, and elsewhere. Select one way at a time to focus, rather than trying to find all the different ways.

A good set of preschool worksheets will help your child recognize different shapes, see how they are part of other objects, and learn to draw them. Drawing shapes is the precursor to learning to write, and a good set of worksheets should walk you through this process step by step until your child is drawing shapes on their own and with their bare hands. Look for worksheets that combine learning shapes with the use of different colors, as this is particularly effective for reinforcing shape names.