Making shape animals is a fun craft that also incorporates lots of beneficial maths learning and development. I carried out this activity with reception aged children and they engaged really well and enjoyed participating.
The idea of shape animals is for the children to use different cut out shapes to create an animal of their choice supporting decision making, imagination and creativity as well as maths learning and development.
I cut the shapes out in advanced making different sizes and colours of:
- Triangles
- Rectangles
- Squares
- Circles
- Semi circles
I sorted the shapes into bowls which I labelled with the names of the shapes and a picture of the shape to aid reading and recognition of letters and written words. I began the activity by asked each child what their favourite animal was and which animal they would like to make during this activity which ignited lots of conversation around pets and experiences with animals such as visiting the zoo.
The children used their fine motor skills to control the glue stick when gluing the shapes on to their picture to create an animal. As the children did this they named the colours and the shapes. We also explored how many sides and corners each shape has. Supporting shape, space and measure development. The children added details such as a smiley face, background or the food the animal eats to their picture using coloured pencils. The children made a range of different animals including: unicorns, cats, cows, tigers, giraffes and elephants.
To stretch and challenge the children further and reinforce maths learning and development I made these labels for the children to fill in. Once each child completed their shape animal I supported them to count how many of each shape they used and then they wrote the number in the correct space. I used my fingers as a visual representation to aid their counting. For older children you could also compare how many of each shape the children use to make their animal, such as who has used the highest number of circles or lowest number of squares. I also used a number line to support a few children in understanding how to form the numbers when writing. The children then stuck this label on to their work to demonstrate their learning. This part of the activity encouraged writing skills, counting, shape recognition, number formation and reading.
You can print out my shape animal labels here for free: Shape animal labels free print outs PDF
I hope you enjoy this activity and seeing all of the children's unique shape animals.
I would love to see photos of your shape animals on Instagram
Save this idea for later on my Pinterest
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