Stick Shapes
What you need
- a handful of straight sticks, about the same length
How to do it
- Collect straight sticks together on a walk or in the garden, no longer than your child's arm.
- Lay three on the grass to make a triangle, and count the sides together.
- Ask your child to make a square: how many sticks will they need?
- Let them make their own shapes, then look for the same shapes around you: a square window, a triangle roof.
Why it matters
Three sticks make a triangle and four make a square, so the counting and the shape arrive together, out of things they picked up themselves.
What they're learning
- Shape words
- Triangle, square, rectangle, laid out on the grass.
- Counting sides
- Three sticks for a triangle, four for a square.
- Fitting corners
- Moving each stick until the ends touch.
What to look for
Notice them counting the sticks before they start a shape.
A tip
Pick sticks with no sharp ends, and leave the shapes on the grass for someone else to find.
Make it easier or harder
Easier: make a triangle together and walk all the way round it
Harder: make a big shape and a small one of the same kind, then a house from a square and a triangle
