Sorting Shapes Flower Garden Activity

4.28.2021

April showers, bring May flowers.  Set up this fun, colorful low-prep sorting shapes activity for your toddler or preschooler; it's a perfect addition to your spring theme activities!  Your toddler or preschooler will create his/her own flower garden by sorting and matching shapes to a specific flower.  Enjoy!


sorting shapes flower garden

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As the weather begins to turn for the better, signs of spring start popping up everywhere.  In the stores (hello flower and pastel decor!), outside as trees and a few flowers begin to start budding, and in our homeschool.  After a long winter, we welcome spring themes such as flowers, birds, rainbows, bugs & insects, etc. 

A few weeks ago I printed off our Spring Shapes Matching Worksheet for my 3 year old, who of course, just loved having ''school'' to do all her own.  So, with spring in the air I set up another activity that worked on sorting and matching shapes.  My 3 year old created her own shapes flower garden!

WHY ARE SHAPE SORTING ACTIVITIES IMPORTANT?


Shapes are one of the first things that young children can differentiate; they may not be able to verbalize it, but young children are able to sort and match various objects by their physical characteristics-- like its SHAPE!  And as we read and live life, shapes are one of the easiest concepts to point out to children.  Pointing out differing shapes will help solidify shape recognition and shape identification.  And being able to note differences- subtle and large- will help them in other content areas too, like when he/she is beginning to learn how to read and write!


There are MANY fun ways to teach your toddler and/or preschooler about shapes.  And as I mentioned above, they will be aware of the differences too.... just through PLAYING.  However, as a teacher and/ or parent, providing specific activities that encourage being able to distinguish between shapes solidifies their learning, and provides structured, yet hands-on teachable moments. 


SORTING SHAPES


Add this fun, hands-on shape sorting activity to your spring theme activities.  It's a great sorting activity for toddlers and preschoolers; it is easily adaptable and also works on shape recognition and shape identification!  This seemingly simple shape sorting activity works on so many important early learning skills.


Supplies:

  • construction paper
  • scissors
  • dot sticker
  • markers
  • glue stick

SHAPE SORTING FLOWER GARDEN ACTIVITY


Once you have gathered the materials, begin prepping this shape sorting activity for your toddler or preschooler by drawing two to three stems onto a piece of construction paper.  


Decide what two or three shapes you would like your child to practice identifying and draw a shape in the center of your dot stickers.  Alternatively, if you do not have dot stickers, simply draw a circle where the center of your flower would be and draw a circle, square, heart, triangle, etc. in the middle.


The shape in the center of the flower will direct him/her to match the shape ''petals'' to the correct flower.


shape sorting activity for toddlers

Once you have decided what shapes you would like your toddler or preschooler to sort, cut around five of each shape from construction paper. 


I had my daughter sort between circles, triangles, and hearts.  I cut five of each shape from colored construction paper; circles were orange, hearts were purple, and triangles were pink.  I spread them around the activity so she could sort and then match the shapes on the correct flower.


flower garden shape match

Once the activity was prepped and ready to go, I called my three year old over and we had a quick little chat about the colors and shapes on the table.


I encouraged her to sort the shapes by similar characteristics- shape and color, and then had her place the shape ''petal'' around the matching flower.


As your preschooler matches the shapes, a garden will begin to ''grow!''


Either as your child is putting the shape ''petals'' around the flower, or once your child has matched all the shapes, encourage your child to count how many petals are on each flower and/or how many petals there are all together!


flower shape match

MATCH THE SHAPES FLOWER ACTIVITY


Once your preschooler has matched the shapes, either leave the pieces unassembled so that your toddler or preschooler can do this activity again for a quick table-top activity .


OR, give your child a glue stick and have him/her glue down the shape ''petals'' to each flower, which will create a simple spring craft to add to your refrigerator or art wall!


shape match

This sorting shapes activity is easily adaptable so you can use other shapes and/or focus on other colors.  


For a little challenge, cut the same shape from different colored paper to create flowers of the same shape!


Either way, I think your toddler or preschooler will love this shape sorting activity as much as my 3 year old.  It's the perfect spring activity for little ones! 


I hope this inspires you to learn & play with SHAPES today! 


MORE SHAPES ACTIVITIES 


MORE SPRING ACTIVIITES FOR TODDLERS & PRESCHOOLERS


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