Shapes and Colors Lesson Plan for Preschoolers: Fun Activities & Craft

Teach shapes and colors with this fun, hands-on lesson plan for preschoolers and toddlers. This guide includes easy activities like a shape hunt, a monster craft, and a color sorting game to help kids learn circles, squares, triangles, red, blue, and yellow. Perfect for parents and educators looking to build cognitive and fine motor skills in a playful way.

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My Shape & Color Adventure!

Materials Needed

  • Construction paper in various colors (especially red, blue, yellow, green, black)
  • Child-safe scissors (for adult use)
  • Glue stick
  • Googly eyes (optional, but fun!)
  • A basket or small bag
  • Various household objects with distinct shapes and colors (e.g., a round plate, a square book, a rectangular block, a triangular toy block)
  • Colored bowls or pieces of paper (one each for red, blue, yellow, green)
  • A multi-colored snack (e.g., fruit snacks, colored crackers, different berries)

Learning Objectives

By the end of this lesson, the student will be able to:

  • Identify and name at least three basic shapes: circle, square, and triangle.
  • Point to and name at least three primary colors: red, blue, and yellow.
  • Sort a small group of items by a single attribute (color or shape).
  • Demonstrate fine motor skills through gluing and placing objects.

Early Learning Alignment

  • Cognitive Development: Object recognition, sorting, matching, problem-solving.
  • Fine Motor Skills: Grasping, gluing, placing small items.
  • Language Development: Naming shapes and colors, using descriptive words.
  • Creative Expression: Creating a unique piece of art.

Lesson Activities (Approx. 30-40 minutes total)

1. Warm-Up: The Shape Hunt Song (5 minutes)

Goal: To introduce the concept in a fun, active way.

Instructions: Sing the following song to the tune of "The Farmer in the Dell." Encourage your child to sing and do the actions with you.

(Point to a square object)
"A square is like a box,
A square is like a box.
It has four sides, they are the same,
A square is like a box."

(Make a circle with your hands)
"A circle’s like a ball,
A circle’s like a ball.
Round and round it never stops,
A circle’s like a ball."

(Make a triangle with your fingers)
"A triangle has three sides,
A triangle has three sides.
Up the mountain, down and back,
A triangle has three sides."

2. Activity 1: Indoor Shape & Color Safari (10 minutes)

Goal: To connect abstract shapes and colors to real-world objects.

Instructions:

  1. Give your child the basket and say, "We are going on a safari to find shapes and colors right here in our house! First, let's find something that is round like a circle."
  2. Help your child find a round object (like a lid, a ball, or a plate) and place it in the basket. Celebrate the find!
  3. Continue the safari, looking for one object for each target shape (square book, rectangular block) and color ("Now let's find something that is the color red!").
  4. After finding a few items, sit down together and talk about what you found. "Look! You found a square book! And this red car is so bright!"

3. Activity 2: Create a Shape Monster (15 minutes)

Goal: To apply knowledge creatively and practice fine motor skills.

Prep: Before the lesson, cut out a variety of large, medium, and small shapes from the colored construction paper (circles, squares, triangles, rectangles).

Instructions:

  1. Lay out the pre-cut shapes, a piece of black construction paper, the glue stick, and googly eyes.
  2. Say, "Let's use these shapes to build a silly Shape Monster! You can make it any way you want. What shape should be the monster's body?"
  3. Encourage your child to choose a large shape for the body and glue it down.
  4. Ask them to add other parts using different shapes. "Does your monster need triangle feet? How about some little circle eyes?" Use shape and color vocabulary throughout the process.
  5. Let your child be the creative director. There is no right or wrong way to make a monster! The goal is exploration and fun.

4. Closure: Snack Time Sort (5 minutes)

Goal: To reinforce sorting skills with a motivating reward.

Instructions:

  1. Place the colored bowls or pieces of paper on the table.
  2. Give your child a small handful of the multi-colored snack.
  3. Say, "Let's put our snacks to bed! Can you put all the red snacks in the red bowl? Where do the yellow snacks go?"
  4. Guide them as they sort the snacks by color. Once finished, they can enjoy their sorted snack as a reward for all their hard work!

Assessment (Informal & Observational)

  • Objective Check: During the safari, ask "Can you find the square?" or "What color is this block?" Note their ability to correctly identify the shapes and colors.
  • Application Check: While making the Shape Monster, observe if they can select a shape when you name it ("Hand me a small triangle, please").
  • Sorting Check: Watch them during the snack sort. Do they correctly match the snack color to the bowl color? Can they do it independently after one or two examples?

Differentiation & Inclusivity

For Extra Support:

  • Focus on only two shapes (e.g., circle and square) and two colors (e.g., red and blue) for the entire lesson to avoid overwhelm.
  • Use hand-over-hand guidance to help with gluing and placing shapes.
  • During the safari, give a choice of two objects and ask, "Which one is the circle?" to simplify the task.

For an Extra Challenge:

  • Introduce more complex shapes like stars, hearts, or ovals into the art project.
  • Introduce secondary colors (green, orange, purple).
  • During the safari, ask the child to find "two red things" or "a big circle and a little circle."
  • Create simple patterns with the snack sort (e.g., red, blue, red, blue...).