Education Category: Games
Ages:

Play Twist 'N Turn!

Practicing shapes is important for preschoolers, but most preschoolers
would rather play outside. With the game, you get the best of both worlds:
shape practice masquerading as a fun sidewal  game. Draw shapes on
the ground, and let your preschooler walk, hop, and skip her way to
learning all about rectangles, triangles, and circles. All you need is some
sidewalk  chalk  and a bit of concrete to get started.

What You Need:
 

• Sidewalk  chalk
• Flat, paved area such as a driveway
• Pen or pencil
• Slips of paper
• Small paper lunch bag

What You Do:
 

1. Choose 5 shapes you want your preschooler to become more familiar with, such as triangles,
          circles, rectangles, squares, diamonds, ovals, stars, pentagons, or cubes.
2. Write 10 simple instructions, each one on a small slip of paper. Try to incorporate color, shape,        and direction. Here are a few ideas:

    

   • Put your left foot on the pink  triangle
   • Hop to the yellow pentagon
   • Wal  backward to the blue square
   • Put your right hand on the purple circle
   • Hop on your left foot to the green diamond
3. Place the slips in the small paper lunch bag.
4. On the pavement outside ask your child to draw the 5 shapes with sidewalk  chalk  in the
          corresponding colors you used to create the instructions. Remember the shapes need to be large,
          so you’ll want to guide your child’s chalk  work.
5. Ask  your child to pull a slip of paper from the bag, and get twisting and turning, or hopping and
          running! Encourage your preschooler to help “read” the instructions.
6. Take this activity to another level by letting your child make up movements for you to carry out.
   No written directions needed, just let your child be the “boss” and get creative!

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