Materials
child-safe scissors
construction paper markers glue small baskets or containers tagboard patterns for a square, rectangle, circle, and triangleInstructions
l Cut and laminate some sample shapes so there will be plenty for the children
to use.
What to Do
1. Explain to the children that they are going to work as a factory, which is a
business that uses people and machines to make many copies of one item,
such as a shoe factory or a doll factory. Tell the children they will be a shape
factory, working to make many shapes to use for a picture in the classroom.
2. Explain that each child will trace and cut out one set of shapes: a square, a
rectangle, a circle, and a triangle.
3. Ask the children to put all the squares into one container when they cut them
out, and then put all the circles into another container, and so on, until they
have all the shapes sorted.
4. Provide sample shapes so the children can trace the shapes onto paper and
then cut along the line.
5. When there are enough shapes from the shape factory, give each child a whole
piece of construction paper and a supply of shapes.
6. Encourage the children to create shape designs by gluing shapes to the paper.
Assessment
To assess the children's learning, consider the following:
l Can the child accurately cut out the various shapes?
l Can the child identify by name the shapes she cuts out?
l Can the child create objects with the shapes on the construction paper?