Pre-KG 2026/ 27 Blog 4
Three shapes and more
In our current unit in Pre-Kindergarten the subjects revolve around "Colours and Shapes" and our classroom boasts a lot of related materials.
As the children are getting to know the colours quite well, we focused on shapes this week, using our shape sorter with three shapes as a starting point.
This yellow bucket with three shapes is much loved by the children and many of them know it from their Playgroup days when they experienced their first success of fitting the triangle, square and circle shaped blocks into the appropriate slots.
The week commenced with printing activities where the Pre-Kindergarten and K1 children used these three shapes and some water to print on the magic mats which I have owned for years and which are really useful as you only need water to play.
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It was a little tricky to get the right amount of water and then move on to a white spot to make new prints. As K1 is learning about transportation, the children also tried to make a bus by using circles and a square and a different roller for the road. Everyone had lot of fun, learnt how to hold the shapes in order to print and engaged well.
Later in the day we expanded on this knowledge and let the children print with paint on their favourite colour paper. Paint has a different adhesion than water, so the children learnt to push and pull the shape off at the right time and take turns with the colours. Again, the children were very interested and the results were some colourful lively prints.
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As shapes are really good for creating different types of art and fostering imagination, we took out our many boxes of different shapes from the Pre-Kindergarten drawers and the children created a variety of images and collages, from cherry pies with hexagons and circles to Picasso style art pieces showing that there really is no limit to one's ideas!
Fine motor skills are developing right from birth, so using paint brushes and making strokes or using tongs to pick up small coloured cotton balls and sort them into corresponding boxes are great activities to foster them and the ability to focus as well.
This week K1 also worked on their unit of seasons and the children of both classes painted big pieces of paper in green in order to make leaves for their season tree. Great collaboration, everyone !
Matching shapes is an activity children really enjoy and it is important for their recognition and early math skills. They can match them to cards, puzzles, books or even to images of a video clip.
While I am not a big fan of TV and screens, there are some educational short clips out there where children can learn vocabulary, observe and interact. One of these is "The Shape Song" by Simple Songs and the Pre-Kindergarten children and their friends from K1 really enjoyed the song and showing their knowledge.
We ended the week and our discovery into shapes with a beautifully illustrated book called "Color Farm". The book by Lois Ehlert has been around for many years and never fails to fascinate with its colourful illustrations and clever cutouts of shapes that show a different animal at every turn. I hope you have an opportunity to find it and read it with your child.
Wishing you a colourful and beautiful weekend!
With kind regards, mit freundlichen Grüßen,
Anita Ursula Mönch
DSKI Pre-Kindergarten homeroom teacher
Playgroup / EY GFL & Deutsch
German Saturday School homeroom teacher
