3D Shape Sort

Can your child already classify the basic 2D shapes? Time to introduce some simple 3D shapes! Solid shapes, as they’re often called in elementary school, aren’t formally introduced until kindergarten. However, your three-year-old or four-year-old is already interacting with them every day.

When first introducing solid shapes, start with just a few. I recommend starting with cubes, spheres, and cylinders, as these are likely the ones your child will see first in elementary school.

To make it fun, I went around the house and collected every real-world example of a cube, sphere or cylinder I could find.

We named each shape and talked about how they look. And then we simply sorted each object, one by one, into the appropriate category. Such a simple way to introduce 3D shapes and practice making categories!