Identify Shapes with Detective Role Play

by | Apr 9, 2020 | Core Skills

Solve the case of the missing shape by pretend playing as detectives!

What you need:

  • Notebook
  • Crayon

How to play:

  1. Pick two objects around your home that would be clearly visible to your child. Both objects should be the same shape but should look different. Don’t tell your child what they are yet.
  2. Make a game with your child that she is a detective, and she needs to focus and help solve a very important shape mystery. Encourage her to use her hands as pretend binoculars to keep her focused!
  3. Give your child some clues about what she should be looking to find. Be sure to include helpful information about the shape of the object, such as “it has three four sides” or “it looks like pizza”
  4. Once she has guessed the object, ask her to draw it in her detective notebook.
  5. Now give her clues for the second object.
  6. Once she’s found out, encourage her to focus and look closely at the two pictures/objects. Discuss how many different objects have the same shape.
  7. Now play the game again with another object! You can even switch roles and takes turns being the detective.

Tips for playing:

  • You can start off with easy objects and work up to harder ones.
  • You can modify the game by thinking of an object ahead of time and playing “I Spy” to describe objects that are the same shape.

If you have time:

Take the investigation outside and go on a shape hunt around the neighborhood.

Author

  • Begin Learning Team

    Parents hear so much noise about what matters–it’s hard to know where to begin. That’s where we come in. We are early learning experts & PhDs helping you focus on what matters most for your child.

About the author
Begin Learning Team
Begin Learning Team

Some position...

Parents hear so much noise about what matters–it’s hard to know where to begin. That’s where we come in. We are early learning experts & PhDs helping you focus on what matters most for your child.