About this game

Shape names

Shape names: 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

Square, circle, rectangle: Kindergarten children know the words, but shapes do not always come in the pose they expect. Shape names has seven cards: four squares, two circles and one rectangle shown turned. Five of them make a round. Your child looks at the shape and taps its name from four, such as square, rhombus, triangle and circle. The instruction is read aloud, and every answer is checked and explained by sides and corners.

Naming a shape by its features, not by its look, is the start of geometry. The hint says to count sides and corners. That works even for circles, with none, and gets your child talking about what makes a square a square.

The turned rectangle is the card to watch. It has 4 sides and 4 corners, so square is a tempting tap. Run a finger along the sides and ask, "Are these two as long as those two?" Praise the measuring look: "You compared the sides before naming it."

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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