Driving Around the Shape Track

This was such a simple, fun and quick activity to set up to teach my son his 2d shapes. My son continues to be a huge train enthusiast and has a huge collection of different trains. Also when out on our daily walks, he can use his imagination to turn any grate, curb or steps into a track. As a teacher and Mummy I always try to design activities that match the children’s interests as much as possible. Using such a huge motivator, I knew that this shape game would be perfect for my son.

Set Up

For this activity I used chalk pens to draw four different 2d shapes into the tuff tray. If you don’t have a tuff tray, you could use a big piece of paper or create the shapes using masking tape on your floor. I then put the trains out and we were ready to play and learn.

My son was immediately drawn to this activity and started driving his trains around each of the shapes. I simply sat next to the tuff tray, naming the shapes he was driving around and telling him the key characteristic of the relevant shape; a square has four sides.

This activity stayed out and was often revisited throughout the day. Super simple, creates very little mess and is a fantastic way to teach children to recognise 2d shapes.