Many pre-k teachers find that the majority of children, especially first graders have trouble with shapes. This is quite common among many children who have been used to just drawing their name on a piece of paper. One of the main reasons for this is that most children do not understand why shapes exist and thus do not grasp that they must put them together in order to create a picture.
The parent can help their child with shapes by having a quick explanation about what a shape is. Children should start with the simplest shapes and then progress to more complex shapes as they begin to learn to understand shapes.
The majority of shapes come in a certain shape. For example a triangle is a three sided shape and all triangles are also round so if your child is drawn to triangles that are of different shapes then you can help him/her to think of them all as the same shape.
The two biggest reasons for shapes are making a shape like a fish, a fish that has different colors on it or a shape that resembles a bird. A three dimensional shape can be either a cube or a pyramid. Many shapes are similar to each other and when a child tries to put them together he/she will have a difficult time seeing the connection between the pieces.
The shapes should be thought of from the inside out. You should think of all the pieces that make up the shape of the object. It is necessary to think of how the objects interact with each other.
It is important that when you are teaching a child about shapes that he/she also understands the difference between size and shape. When you use shapes in conjunction with line work, you will be able to create beautiful pictures. Some shapes are rather large and some are small and to be able to combine them properly is very important. When you have enough shapes to go around, it is vital that you use them to get your point across. Your shape might be something simple such as a circle, but if you have it in bold then the child can still understand it and that it is something to be noticed. If you do not use shapes in conjunction with line work then the child will never know what a shape is or how to add shapes together to create a picture.
Shapes worksheets are an excellent resource for teaching your child about shapes. Using shapes to build a picture, these workbooks also provide your child with a solid understanding of different shapes.
