Squares: Learning Activities for Shapes

Below you will find some fun learning activities with squares. Your child can make a travel pillow or a gift for some special lady in their life. There are also some great book suggestions. You can find squares all around you. What type of squares did you and your child find?

Content:

Toys
Crafts:
Square Travel Pillow
Square Sachet
Snacks
Story Time
Related Posts

Toys

Square wooded blocks, dice, some game boards

(top)

Crafts

Square Travel Pillow

Materials Needed:

Fleece
Ruler
Scissors
Fabric glue or yarn & plastic yarn sewing needle
Fiber filling

Instructions:

1) Cut the fleece into two 8 inch squares for each pillow. *I chose 8 inches because my great-niece and great-nephews still ride in car seats and I thought the smaller pillow would work better to prop up their heads rather than a bigger one. You can actually make them any size square you want.  

2) For younger children that are doing this craft; help them run a bead of fabric glue along the outer edge of three sides of the wrong side of one of the squares. *The wrong side would be the back side that doesn’t have a clear print on it. (For older children skip down to step 2b)

3) Place the second square on top of the one with the glue; wrong sides together. According to the directions on the Aleene’s Fabric Fusion, let it dry for 2 to 4 hours.

4) Stuff with fiber filling. A child as young as one year old can help with this step.

5) Glue the last side together. You may need to use straight pins or safety pins to hold it closed until it has dried.

**2b) For older children, you can teach them how to sew the two squares together using yarn and a plastic yarn needle. I used to sew with my 4 year old preschool classes.

3b) Place the two squares with wrong sides together.

4b) Thread yarn through needle then sew 3 of the 4 sides together using a straight stitch.

5b) Stuff with fiber filling then sew the last side together. Even little ones as young as one year old can help with this step.

6b) Sew last side closed.

Now your little one has created their own special pillow to use in the car.

**Special note: You may want to take your plastic yarn needle to the store when you choose your fleece. Some of the fleece is woven tighter than others which makes it hard to get the needle through it. I couldn’t get the needle through the purple fleece but it went easily through the fleece with the frogs.

(top)

Square Sachet Bags

Materials Needed:

Fleece
Ruler
Scissors
Fabric glue or yarn & plastic yarn sewing needle
Potpourri of your choice

Instructions:

1) Cut the fleece into two 4 inch squares for each sachet.

2) For younger children that are doing this craft; help them run a bead of fabric glue along the outer edge of three sides of the wrong side of one of the squares. *The wrong side would be the back side that doesn’t have a clear print on it. (For older children skip down to step 2b)

3) Place the second square on top of the one with the glue; wrong sides together. According to the directions on the Aleene’s Fabric Fusion, let it dry for 2 to 4 hours.

4) Fill with potpourri of your choice. A child as young as one year old can help with this part. Make sure they don’t try to eat the potpourri.

5) Glue the last side together. You may need to use straight pins or safety pins to hold it closed until it has dried.

**2b) For older children, you can teach them how to sew the two squares together using yarn and a plastic yarn needle. I used to sew with my 4 year old preschool classes.

3b) Place the two squares with wrong sides together.

4b) Thread yarn through needle then sew 3 of the 4 sides together using a straight stitch.

5b) Fill with potpourri then sew the last side together.

Your child has now made a special gift that they can give to mom, grandma, teacher or some other special lady in their life. Or maybe they want to keep it to put in one of their own clothes drawers.

(top)

Foods for snack or meal time

Square crackers, square pieces of cheese, caramels, cut sandwiches into square shapes, cut fruit into little squares, Chex cereal

(top)

Story Time

I See Squares by D. H. Dilkes
Reading Level: Birth – 4 yrs old
D. H. Dilkes has a great series of little books that discuss different shapes. In this book you will find squares in many different places. I like the fact that the illustrations are photographs of every day items. The text is simple which is great for a young child that is just being introduced to shapes.

So Many Circles, So Many Squares by Tana Hoban (only covers circles and squares)
Reading Level: Birth to 2nd Grade
There is no storyline to this book. It is just pages and pages of pictures from the world around us. It concentrates on two shapes; circles and squares. This is a great book for introducing shapes to your child. This book could lead into a great game of finding circles right where you are.

Squares (Shapes) by Pamela Hall
Reading Level: Birth to 5 yrs old
A cute introduction to squares. The rhyming storyline leads you through bright illustrations of a kitten and her puppy. They encounter squares all around the house. There are many squares on each page to be observed, counted and enjoyed. I do have a problem with the fact that some of the squares are positioned on their corner which then makes them look like a diamond.

What Is Square? by Rebecca Kai Dotlich
Reading Level: Ages 1 – 4 yrs old
I really like this book because it concentrates on one shape. I am finding it hard to find shape books that are dedicated to one shape at a time. This book is written in a fun rhyming fashion. There are plenty of pictures of square items. One thing that bothers me is that some of the square items are set at an angle (in other words on a corner) which then makes them look like a diamond instead of a square. On a positive note, that gives you an opportunity to start discussing the diamond shape.

(top)

Related Posts:

Shapes – Overview
The Lessons – Overview
Circles: Learning Activities for Shapes
Ovals: Learning Activities for Shapes
Rectangles: Learning Activities for Shapes
Triangles: Learning Activities for Shapes
Diamonds: Learning Activities for Shapes
Stars: Learning Activities for Shapes
Hearts: Learning Activities for Shapes
Learning Should Be Fun
Colors – Overview

(top)