Enabling Environments: Collections - Take shape

Shapes are everywhere-regular and irregular, in 2D and 3D. While some shapes are familiar to us, such as the circle and triangle, there are others we may not even recognise, never mind actually name (such as dodecahedrons - 3D shapes with 12 flat sides). Then there are shapes that we can only describe, maybe as squarish, oval-like or a bit pointy.

Practitioners can use all sorts of collections to contribute to discussions on shape. This could be junk boxes in the art area, natural materials for making pictures and patterns, buttons, leaves and shells. But rather than just learning the names of the shapes, children should be provided with a variety of large and small 2D and 3D shapes, such as circles and spheres, squares and cubes, equilateral triangles and (their 3D equivalent) tetrahedrons, to build with, make pictures with, draw and move around, fit together and investigate their different properties.

WHERE TO START

The starting point for learning about shapes should be in the everyday environment, according to early years curriculum consultant Linda Pound. She says, 'It doesn't matter whether the shapes are regular or not, or whether you can give them a formal name or not. It's the descriptions and conversations that matter. For example, "Hey look at that bottle. It's like a tin of beans at the bottom and then it gets thin and pointy at the top".'

Practitioners should also not delay introducing and talking about 3D shapes with young children. Objects that children can hold and touch are often easier to understand and work with than 2D shapes, such as triangles and squares, that are flat and generally a mental construct.

Ms Pound recommends giving children flattened boxes so that they get the idea of transforming 2D to 3D and vice versa. She also says that blocks are important for highlighting transformations and new shapes that occur as construction develops. Outdoors, cardboard boxes, carpet rolls, tyres and crates will highlight shape on a large scale.

THE VOCABULARY OF SHAPE

Practitioners should use the vocabulary of 2D and 3D shapes in their discussions with children. However, they should not worry about the children knowing the names themselves. Ms Pound says, 'It's more important to talk about what a shape looks like than trying to impose a name on it. We want children to take in the qualities of the shapes and outline the characteristics. Practitioners can use words to draw attention to the characteristics. For example, "There's a sphere - it has a lovely round shape like a ball." Or when looking at a star object in a shape sorter, talk to children about how it's round but spiky.'

But, she warns, 'If you try to impose the names of shapes on children too early, they shut down because it's confusing. Once they've got the experience, the label is easy.'

RESOURCE IDEAS

Here are some ideas for resources that can be used around the nursery to stimulate interest and discussion around shapes.

• Provide containers of different shapes and sizes in the home corner. Include tall, thin, fat, short, cylindrical, cuboid and spherical. Also, look out for interestingly-shaped dishes and plates - for example, triangular or star-shaped. Cookie cutters for dough, sand or real cooking will also bring up interesting discussions on shape. Try the Shape Cutters (£4.19) from www.earlyyears.co.uk.

• Sets of nestling and stacking boxes are useful for exploring how shapes fit together. Try the set of Nestling Boxes (£37.50) from www.earlyexcellence.co.uk or the set of six Star Coloured Board Stacking Boxes (£11.99) from www.littlecraftybugs.co.uk, which also sells cube, cylinder, cuboid and ovoid nestling boxes.

• In the art area, provide printing resources and shaped paper but also encourage children to cut their own shapes. Try the 10 Paint Shape Stampers (£8.99) from www.reflectionsonlearning.co.uk or the Geometric Paper Shapes (£6.99) from www.earlyyears.co.uk. Outdoors, try rubbing patterns of a triangle, square, circle and rectangle on to the Shape Rubbing Plaques (£49.95) from www.tts-group.co.uk.

• Light boxes or overhead projectors, available from www.reflectionsonlearning.co.uk, are good for drawing attention to the detail and attributes of different shapes on a small scale. Use with the Overhead Pattern Blocks (£7.99) for shape recognition, colour mixing, pattern and picture making, also from www.reflectionsonlearning.co.uk, and add coloured acetate so that children can make their own shapes.

• Provide plenty of opportunities for children to explore the properties of 2D shapes on a large scale. Use the set of 45 Jumbo Glitter Mosaic Tiles (£58.95, pictured) to create giant sequences and tessellations, or try the set of 26 Jumbo Jewel Mosaics, (£99.95) or Texture Boards (£36.95, pictured), all from www.tts-group.co.uk. Alternatively, create a giant piece of natural art exploring shapes and patterns in nature with the Giant Picture Frame (£64.99) or hang the set of four Small Wicker Shapes (£15.99) around the garden. Both are from from Cosy Direct on 01332 370152.

• For 3D construction, the Giant Outdoor Hollow Blocks (£199.95) contain a variety of shapes to select and stack, including cuboids, oblongs, ramps and planks, and the Metallic Pebbles, Donuts and Spheres (£125.90) add a different dimension to construction, both from www.tts-group.co.uk. Archiblocks - Castle Kit (£65) and Ludoblocks Kit Constructions (£350.30), both from www.wesco-eshop.co.uk, are great for large-scale construction. See also the ranges available from www.communityplaythings.co.uk. Outdoors, use the Milk Crates (£39.99 for six) or Bread Crates (£22.99 for three) and Rustic Planks (£13.95 for two), all from Cosy Direct. To build your own shapes and structures with poles and canes, try the pack of two Flexible Cane Dens (£19.95) and the Flexible Cane Shapemaker (£14.30) from Cosy Direct.

• The set of 24 Rainbow Blocks (£24.99) and the Mirror Block Set (£24.99), both from www.reflectionsonlearning.co.uk, are both good for building on a table, as is the Cosy Treasure Chest of natural wooden pieces (£159.95) from Cosy Direct.

• Don't forget the physical side of working with shapes - comment on shapes that children make as they jump, roll, dance and spin around. A mirror or video camera is useful for this.

• Build up your own collections of shape discovery boxes. Ensure that they contain a diversity of shapes in varying sizes, from a large ball to a sugar cube; you don't want children to think that cubes are to be found only in sets of blocks. Ready-made versions that can be added to are also available, such as the 2D Shape Bag (£19.99) or the 3D Shape Bag (£21.99) from www.reflectionsonlearning.co.uk. Shapes Discovery Boxes (£65.49) are available from www.earlyyears.co.uk.

• Use shape sorters, posting boxes and games. Children can build the Stackable Bear (£14.50, pictured) from www.wesco-eshop.co.uk by fitting the geometric shapes together, or use the 22-piece TOLO Baby Shape Sorter (£35.49) from www.earlyyears.co.uk. They can post the shapes in the Baby Posting Pots (£49.95, main photo) or stack them on to the Wooden Stacking Pyramids (£34.95), both from www.tts-group.co.uk. Games include the Giant Tangram (£15.30,) from www.wesco-eshop.co.uk, which allows new shapes to be created by assembling geometric shapes (below).

  

CASE STUDY

Junk modelling is a great way to explore shape. Children at Bewbush Community Nursery in West Sussex created an adult-sized Gruffalo using newspaper, large cardboard boxes, pieces of tubing and ping pong balls.

Co-owner Linda Godley says, 'Although we did not set out to talk about shapes, there were a lot of opportunities to do this. We talked about his eyes, which were made from ping pong balls, and the children watched as they were cut in half and we talked about how the shape had changed.

'We also talked about the shape of his claws and prickles and his body shape. Some observations were, "He's got orange eyes; they're round" and "His fingernails are triangles".'

BOOK CORNER

For practitioners: Thinking and Learning about Maths in the Early Years by Linda Pound (Routledge in association with Nursery World) and Maths Outdoors by Carole Skinner (Beam Education).

Books for children include: Shape by Zoe Miller and David Goodman (Tate), a fresh look at 2D and 3D shapes, and The Shape Game by Anthony Browne (Corgi Childrens), ideal for exploring irregular shapes. Also available are Let's Look at Shapes (Lorenz Board Books), My Very First Book of Shapes by Eric Carle (Puffin), Spot's First Shapes by Eric Hill (Warne), The Shape of Things by Dayle Ann Dodds and Julie Lacome (Turtleback Books) and Shapes by Patrick George.

Explore shape through everyday objects in Roseanne Thong's Round is a Tortilla and Round is a Mooncake (Chronicle Books), and discover everyday shapes while sailing the seas in search of treasure in Ship Shapes by Stella Blackstone and Siobhan Bell (Barefoot Books). In Mouse Shapes (Orchard), Ellen Stoll Walsh's three little mice return to explore shape - and outwit the cat.