About this game

Shape families

Shape families: a free Kindergarten math game for ages 5-6. Each round draws 5 questions; instructions are read aloud and every answer is checked and explained.

How it plays and why it helps

Squares come in every color, and so do rectangles, which is where the trouble starts. Shape families shows a Kindergarten child one shape, a yellow square or a red circle, and asks for another from the same family. Four choices come in different colors and shapes, and your child taps the one with the same shape. Five shapes make a round, the instruction is read aloud, and every answer is checked and explained: both are squares, the color changes, the shape stays.

Sorting shapes into families is classification. A family is defined by sides and corners, so a blue circle and a red circle belong together even though they look different at first.

The near cousin causes most of the pauses. A square card often offers a rectangle too, sometimes in the very same color. Both have 4 sides and 4 corners. Only the sides tell them apart. Ask, "Are all four sides the same?" Praise the eye: "You found the square, not its cousin."

Aligned with

  • K.G.A.2 Correctly name shapes regardless of their orientations or overall size.
  • K.G.B.4 Analyze and compare two- and three-dimensional shapes, in different sizes and orientations, using informal language to describe their similarities, differences, parts (e.g., number of sides and vertices/"corners") and other attributes (e.g., having sides of equal length).

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