Geometry: 2-D Shapes Songs and Videos for Kids

Here is a selection of videos about 2-D Shapes and Polygons for kids.

Click on the links below to view the videos:


~ The Shapes Song


~ Shapes Song

~ 2-D Shapes I Know (Song for Kids)

 ~ Polygon Song by Peter Weatherall


 ~ Polygon Names - Types of Polygons 


~ Classic Sesame Street Animation - Changing Shapes


~ Types of Polygons 


~ Polygons


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Geometry - Shape Scavenger Hunts (Indoors + Outdoors)

Having children find and identify shapes is a lot of fun. First they could do an indoor scavenger hunt, then they could follow up with an outdoor scavenger hunt in the neighborhood.

• Using a clipboard or notebook, students could make a list of different shapes that they would look for. Then they could mark a tally each time they find a shape.  

 

                  ~  circle
                  ~  triangle
                  ~  quadrilateral - square, rectangle, parallelogram
                  ~  pentagon
                  ~  hexagon
                  ~  heptagon
                  ~  octagon

• Students could also create a tally chart or frequency chart with the data that they collect on their scavenger hunts.

• Then students could compare the indoor and outdoor charts. Where did they find the most shapes? Where did they find the most triangles? Where did they find the biggest quadrilateral? Etc.

Possible Indoor Shapes

Possible Outdoor Shapes

• Students could also take pictures with a camera (or draw/sketch pictures) of the shapes that they find. These pictures could be hung on a bulletin board, made into a book, or put into a slide show to share with others.

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Geometry: Making 2-D Shapes with Manipulatives

As children learn about two-dimensional shapes, they will need lots of practice making the shapes.
There are lots of fun inexpensive manipulatives that they can use to make their 2-D shapes.


Popsicle Sticks

Students can also glue the sticks together or onto the paper.

Straws

Pipe Cleaners

Tooth Picks or Party Pics

Small Craft Sticks

Combination of Popsicle Sticks + Small Craft Sticks

 (Great for making rectangles)

Licorice (Candy!) 

I usually have the kids put the food on a paper plate, napkin, or paper towel for display before eating their masterpieces!


Students can also use pencils, thin strips of paper, chop sticks, etc.
Other foods that can be used are carrot sticks, celery, pretzel sticks, etc.


Younger students could also be coloring, tracing, sorting, identifying, matching, labeling, and drawing different 2-D shapes.


If you would like to view some 2-D shape videos and songs for kids click here.

Hopefully this is what your student(s) will be shouting!

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Have fun with 2 dimensional shapes!

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The Greedy Triangle by Marilyn Burns Book and Activity

Here is a wonderful geometry book for children about two (2) dimensional shapes by a wonderful author, Marilyn Burns, who knows how to engage kids and make learning math lots of  fun.



In this delightful story, recommended for grades K-5, a young triangle is bored and unhappy. He visits a 'shapeshifter' who gives him another side and angle and he becomes a quadrilateral. Several more times he becomes bored, unhappy, and even greedy and the 'shapeshifter' keeps giving him one more side and angle. Children are able to predict the storyline and enjoy the story while learning more about polygons.


After reading (or listening to) the story, children could go outside and use sidewalk chalk to draw a triangle(s) and all the shapes that the greedy triangle became. They could also label the shapes with the correct number of angles (and sides) that the shapes have. Older students could also label the shapes with their names (ex. pentagon, octagon, etc.).


While outside look for shapes in your environment. Are there any buildings around? What shapes are the windows, doors, etc.


If there is no safe outdoor area to work in, the students could use a large piece of construction paper or poster board to draw and label their shapes.

Would you like to see a video of the book? Click Here.

Geometry: 2-D Shapes with Geoboards

Using GEOBOARDS is a lot of fun for kids. The geoboards can be used to reinforce two-dimensional shapes (polygons). 

Polygons have length and height (no depth). Polygons are closed figures made with 3 or more line segments (sides), with only one (1) interior space.
 

Younger students can practice making common shapes: triangles, squares, and rectangles.

Older students can also make

• pentagons (5 sides, 5 corners)
• hexagons (6 sides, 6 corners)
• heptagons (7 sides, 7 corners)
• octagons (8 sides, 8 corners)
• nonagons (9 sides, 9 corners)
• decagons (10 sides, 10 corners)

 Vocabulary:  2-dimensional, polygon, side, corner, straight, closed figure, line,
                       interior, line segment, angle, vertex (corner) 

Used hair bands instead of elastics here!

Geoboards come in different sizes.



 



 
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Fun Math Dictionaries and Glossaries for Kids (Online + Offline)

The study of GEOMETRY can be a lot of fun for students even if they are not very fond of other areas of math.

Having a good MATH Dictionary or Glossary with lots of colored pictures (and some with animations) will be extremely helpful for students. There are some great math dictionaries and glossaries online plus some good physical paperback/hardcover math dictionaries available.

Here is a listing

Online Resources 
Click on the links below:


Harcourt Multimedia Math Glossary (Grades K - 6)

Harcourt Math Glossary (Grades 1-8)

A Maths Dictionary for Kids By Jenny Eather

McGraw-Hill eGlossary (Grades 6 - 12)

Multilingual Glossary


Paperback/Hardcover  Math Dictionaries for Kids






















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