Skill shelf · fit, position and space · 6 activities
Shapes, Space and Geometry
Six activities about shape and where things sit, running from a peg that goes into the one hole that takes it to two metres of taped floor redrawn as a plan on paper.
The two youngest are the same idea twice: a hole that accepts exactly one thing. A two year old pushing a plastic lid through a slot, or a fat peg into a hole that just fits it, is finding out that shape is a fact about an object rather than something you can argue with. Nothing has to be named here. Circle and square arrive later, and they arrive easily once the hands have done the sorting.
Around four the shape leaves the hand. A tin stood on its end throws a rectangle, and deciding which outline on the paper that shadow belongs to means holding a solid in your head and turning it there. At five it is a continent with a knob on it that drops into one place in the tray and nowhere else. At six it is two metres of masking tape on the floor, drawn onto squared paper: the same maze at two sizes, which is the whole idea of a map.
Paper folding sits here and on Hands and Fingers, because a crease made corner to corner is geometry the thumbnail has to get right, and four folds later the first one either was straight or was not. If you are picking for tonight, take the step below where you think your child is. The shadow match runs happily at three with three objects instead of six.
The six
Ordered by the age they suit best. Every line gives the setup time, the play time and whether anything has to be bought.
- Peg and Hole Matching Your child picks up a fat peg, lines it up over a hole that just fits it, and pushes it home. none once made · 5 to 10 min · household only
- Posting and Slotting Your child pushes a plastic lid through a slot cut in a tub, hears it land, and then takes the tub lid off and finds it again. 2 min · 5 to 10 min · household only
- Shape Shadow Match Your child stands a solid shape in a beam of light and works out which of the outlines traced on the paper its shadow belongs to. 2 min · 10 to 20 min · household only
- Continent Map Puzzle Your child lifts each continent out of a wooden map by its knob and puts it back where it came from. 1 min · 10 to 20 min · has to be bought
- Paper Folding Precision Challenge Your child folds a square of paper corner to corner, presses the crease with a thumbnail, and finds out four folds later whether the first one was straight. no setup · 10 to 20 min · household only
- Maze Blueprint Mapping Your child tapes a maze onto the floor and then draws it on paper as a plan, or draws the plan first and builds to it. 2 min · 20 min or more · household only
Five of the six are made from things already in the house. The continent map is the one that has to be bought, and it is also the one that stays in use for years.