Shape recognition is so important at an early age. These skills will help your little ones grow and provide a good foundation for geometry skills and letter recognition in the future! Understanding a triangle’s form comes from more than just drawing three lines with three points; preschoolers should have the opportunity to explore triangles with all of their senses! That can come from painting triangles, forming triangles with play dough, and even enjoying triangle snacks! Here are 14 resources and ideas for activities to explore triangles!
1. Rainbows and Triangles
Here is a great starter activity for preschoolers! These fun crafts instruct parents to draw different-sized triangles (at least two of the same size) and instruct the child which-sized triangles to paint each color. Great for triangle recognition!
Learn More: Number Dyslexia
2. Triangle Chick Craft Idea
This website includes several triangle craft ideas using construction paper! They emphasize the importance of shape recognition for later geometry skills. Create this cute chick to practice cutting triangles!
Learn More: Preschool Activities
3. Triangle Shape Picture Web Activity
Before beginning to create triangles, it’s important for students to think about their prior knowledge. What do your children already know of that is triangular in shape? This color, cut, and paste activity allows learners to identify real-world objects that are triangular!
Learn More: Teachers Pay Teachers
4. Building Motor Skills
This fun activity has links for all materials included in the article! Your children will love pressing triangles into play dough and creating their own designs with colored matchsticks.
Learn More: Teaching 2 and 3-Year-Olds
5. Triangular Songs
Preschoolers love to sing songs, so what better way to learn about triangles than by singing about them? With tunes to classic songs like “Frere Jacques” and “London Bridge”, children will quickly pick up on the words used to identify triangular objects.
Learn More: Step-By-Step CC
6. Triangle Template Worksheet
Here is a great downloadable and printable worksheet for students to practice identifying and exploring triangles! Great for an independent station activity where students trace, cut, and color triangles.
Learn More: Twinkl
7. Triangle Fish
Mixing art with math, this activity requires children to cut colored triangles, glue them onto the dotted outlines, and create their own fish! All you need to do is print out the downloadable worksheet and provide colored paper, scissors, and glue!
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8. Story of a Triangle
This is a cute story with songs and interactive characters made out of recyclable materials. Your children will love watching the triangle meet with a boy and a dog while identifying triangular shapes, like a pizza slice! After watching, challenge your learners to make their own performances with triangular characters!
Learn More: Gargi Sharma
9. Triangular Snacks
With pizza, sandwiches, watermelon slices, and more, you can have your learners identify triangles in real life! To add more to their lesson, have them feel the sides of their triangular foods to identify the characteristics of triangles.
Learn More: First Cry
10. Triangle Craft
This website provides several creative triangle paste activities! This one includes a fun tree craft where students can take pre-cut triangles and a glue stick, and paste them inside a larger triangle.
Learn More: Creative Tots
11. Identify Triangles Worksheets
Great for independent station activities such as triangle lesson follow-up! This website provides several free downloadable and printable worksheets where students work to identify triangles from simple shapes.
Learn More: Clever Learner
12. Free Triangle Games
Another follow-up and independent activity, learners can play these triangle games on any electronic device! This is a great game to practice learning and solidifying knowledge of triangular shapes.
Learn More: Tiny Tap
13. Triangle Trays
Give your learners a hands-on and mess-free triangle experience with these triangle trays! This website provides several printable activities to put inside your trays that can then handle the mess of glue and macaroni, triangle pattern blocks, and more!
Learn More: Teach My Toddlers
14. The Greedy Triangle
The Greedy Triangle is a great children’s story that guides students in exploring geometric shapes and how the amount of sides on a shape, changes its form. This website includes the story and several follow-up activities for differing levels; including a beloved geoboard!
Learn More: Teach Junkie