Shape-Up Math Game

Shhh ... it's a lesson in geometry disguised as a game!

Submitted by
Andrey Ragozin

Challenge your child to find geometric shapes on her clothing, body and surrounding area. This is a great game for long car rides or endless waits at the pediatrician's office.

Shapes:
Anything goes. Yep, that window is a rectangle. That key ring is a circle. Those bags under your eyes are semicircles (argh!).
Shape sorter:
Your child.
Flashcards or pictures with shapes on them:
Optional, but particularly good for younger kids.

Dress your child in her most geometrically flashy outfit. Anything with polka dots, stars, stripes, flowers or plaid is great. You can even put on your own polka-dotted top to give her more shapes to find!
Ask her to point out as many shapes as she can. For example, the irises of Mom's eyes are circles. Your child's front teeth are squares (unless one got chipped when she fell off the monkey bars). The coffee table is a rectangle.
You can give your younger child flashcards or photos of each shape to help her identify what she is looking for. For older kids, just give verbal directions, like, "How many squares can you find?"
Keep track of how many examples she finds of each shape. At the beginning of the game, you can both guess which shape you think she'll spot the most. See who was right!