Planets - Teaching Circles

My favourite topic when I was a Special Needs Teacher was Space. The possibilities for cross-curricular and multi-sensory learning is endless with the topic of Space.

I wanted an exciting and engaging way to start teaching my toddler about 2D shapes. Watching my two year old’s engagement and enjoyment through this activity I think I achieved my goal of creating a motivating shape activity. This activity is simple to set up and uses day to day objects to help your toddler start to recognise circles.

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Set Up

To set this easy and engaging activity up to teach circles, I gathered a selection of items in our kitchen which could be used as a circle stamper; a sponge, a cup, a bowl and a silicone cupcake case. I poured a selection of colours into a round take away platter. I put all the paints into the big platter because it was a circle and I wanted the planets to be a mix of colours.

To read how I set up all painting activities click here.

Together my two year and I then chose different ‘stampers’ to create our planets. I kept repeating “this is a circle” each time either of us stamped a planet.

It wasn’t long before my two year created one big circle but this became our sun in our solar system art work. Once the paint was dry I cut out the sun and the planets (circles) and my son stuck them onto the black piece of paper.

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The finished piece of art, which looks good and has also begun to teach my two year old to recognise circles.

Isabell FisherComment