Teaching Preschoolers about Geometry

Now that the kids are in school and I am no longer so busy teaching the older ones, I have been having fun putting together learning activities for Apollo. Here is an old favorite that I have recently pulled out and set up for him.

{This post contains Amazon affiliate links}

Teaching Preschoolers About Geometry

Teach you preschoolers about geometry? Isn’t three or four a little bit young for these lessons? No way! My (former) littles have loved our geometry lessons and I am now teaching Apollo.

The word geometry comes from the Greek words geo (earth) and metria (to measure). So Geometry literally means to measure the earth. We love learning  Greek and Latin roots in our house. No formal curriculum or books, but we do love the Rummy Roots cards. We pick a word or two and just learn them as we go along.

Tucker (3) having fun with the Geoboard.

The set up for this Geo Board activity is simple. You need:

1. A tray to contain everything (I like to use colorful food trays)

2. A container filled-with rubber bands. I prefer the colorful ones, but any rubber bands will work.

3. Geoboards

If you like you can also purchase activity books to inspire creativity. I never found these necessary, but some families might prefer them.

I have recently pulled this activity out for Apollo for the first time and he loves it (though I haven’t managed to get any pictures of him with it yet).

For older kids you can make challenge cards:

One day years ago, on a sudden inspiration, I made up these little “challenge” cards to go with our geoboards. We had never discussed different types of triangles before, so on each side is a question (i.e. can you make an isosceles triangle?) and the other side defines the triangle and has an illustration. What a fun painless way to introduce this concept!

The site Math Salamanders has some great 3 dimensional printables. My kids loved making these, they almost viewed it as magic when they made a geometrical shape with just paper, scissors and glue! I printed out a handful, and placed them in a tray with glue and scissors. The children love seeing how they can turn a flat shape into a three-dimensional shape. It also gives them a concrete way to see just exactly how many sides are on any given shape.

Other great resources for teaching preschoolers about geometry:

These Metal insets have been used in  Montessori schools for years. They are great for improving fine motor skills and a great precursor to writing. You can also purchase the less expensive plastic ones if you prefer. My kids have all learned their shapes this way.

Geometric solids are a great way to teach kids how the flat shape relates to the geometric shape. This concept can be a bit tricky for preschoolers so having . Not only that, but they love being able to pick up and hold the actual shapes in their hands.

Pattern Blocks are a fun way to teach about Geometry. My children have been using them for years. For the older kids we have moved beyond shapes to fractals and tessellation. This is hands-on math your kids will love!

Shape puzzles are an obvious perfect choice when it comes to teaching toddlers! And shape sticker books. Every preschooler loves stickers!

I hope these ideas encourage you. Preschoolers are little sponges when it comes to learning and these ideas make it fun and exciting for you and your child.

—

For more ideas check out:

Montessori Monday’s Inexpensive and DIY Geometric Solids and Extensions.

Montessori Moms has a great assortment of free printables!

Living Montessori Now has tons of ideas for setting up activities trays for preschoolers.

Daily Montessori has a plethora of ideas about making Montessori part of your daily life.