Big Ideas of Shape

Shape

Everything in the material world has shape. A deeper knowledge about how two- and three-dimensional shapes are defined and relate to one another will help educators be aware of subtle distinctions and rules. Such an understanding allows educators to notice and highlight children’s key discoveries and to guide their experiences to make this knowledge explicit for them.

Copyright: Erikson Institute’s Early Math Collaborative. Reprinted from Big Ideas of Early Mathematics: What Teachers of Young Children Need to Know (2014), Pearson Education.

Big Ideas

● Shapes can be combined and separated (composed and decomposed) to make new shapes.
● The flat faces of solid (three-dimensional) shapes are two-dimensional shapes.
● Shapes can be defined and classified according to their attributes.

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Browse our favorite children’s books that explore Shape.

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Different Types of Shapes and Nonexamples to Spark Geometric Learning

It’s up to us to find, share, and talk about a variety of shapes with children in ways that expand their understanding and build connections between the shapes drawn on paper and the concrete objects in our world.

Transforming Three-Dimensional Shapes with Child 36

This child successfully attempts to match geo-solids using triangular prism-shaped blocks. Focus on the Child videos are taken from one-on-one interviews with individual children. The interviews are designed to elicit evidence of children’s mathematical thinking.

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At-Home Activity Cards: Shapes

Books can illustrate kindergarten and preschool shape concepts while introducing foundational Big Ideas of math. These activity cards can help take the learning to the home environment where parents and caregivers can spark such discussion.