Preschool Circle Time Activity - Shape Marching

Preschoolers will love this active play activity and they will learn to recognize their shapes at the same time. This makes a wonderful circle time activity and can be used to emphasize any shape that preschoolers are learning.

What You Need

Floor Space

Masking Tape

What To Do

Adult Preparation - Use masking tape to create a large shape on the floor. This is a wonderful tool for shape recognition and can be used to emphasize the shape of the week or shape of the month.

Squares are an easy shape to start with but you could also do triangles, rectangles, diamonds, or starts. With a little ingenuity you can create ovals and circles, although these are a bit more difficult.

Preschooler Preparation – This activity can be done as part of a circle time routine or as a music and movement activity. Introduce the shape that you have chosen to the preschoolers. Have each preschooler look around the room and find an object that is the same shape. Let the preschoolers walk around the shape and explore it. Have them describe to you what the shape looks like, how many sides it has, and what other objects are the same shape.

Preschool Games to Play

Follow the Leader

Have the preschool class stand in a line and walk around the shape on the masking tape. Let the first preschooler in the line decide what the other preschoolers are going to do. Preschoolers could walk, hop, dance, wiggle or crawl around the shape.

Dance Around the Shape

Play some upbeat music as preschoolers walk in a line around the shape. Tell preschoolers to keep walking as long as the music is playing but as soon as they hear the music stop they should sit down on the shape.

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