2010-06

C
HILDREN are, as we all know,
adventurous and inquisitive
little people. We can't know
what a tiny baby thinks of the world
around him as he begins to focus on
people and objects, but we know that,
as soon as he is able to reach out
and grasp things, his adventure with
shapes has begun.
What is small enough to hold, but
too big and has to be left alone?
What can be put in his mouth, but too
large and has to be dropped? It's all
a matter of discovery — and trial and
error, too. As a child develops and
begins to crawl, he can explore his
environment more and,
subconsciously, form his own
perceptions. Play is a child's work
and, though learning is fun, it can
also be hard work, too. Children can
see and feel shapes anywhere in the
home, or outside — not just in their
toy box. Gradually they discover that
round shapes can roll and pointed
shapes can hurt. They discover that
some shapes can fit together and
some can be used to build with,
successfully or not!
Visit to any toy shop and you'll
discover a wide choice of materials
and games to encourage a young
child's awareness of shape
recognition. Apart from the ever
popular building bricks, there are
shape sorters where the shapes can
only be inserted into the correctly
shaped space; lego and jigsaws to
suit differing stages of development;
mosaics, stickers and books — to
name just a few. These will all help a
child's development — they challenge
and help with problem-solving.
However, you can still give your child
the experience and have fun at the
same time, by being creative and not
spending any money whatsoever.
Drawing round shapes and/or cutting
them out to make collages, finding
and making collections of similarly
shaped objects, make shapes out of
play dough, preparing or cutting food
into shapes, going on shape finding
hunts shapes in the home or in the
street, imagining and guessing
shapes in the clouds, and so on - all
these activities give your child the
opportunity to experiment with ideas
and, most important of all, to make
mistakes. You can make a game of
shopping then fitting the groceries in
bags, or storing them in the
cupboards at home—that way, your
child gets a learning experience and
you get some much needed help!
There are some excellent educational
programmes for young children on
the television and some very good
inter-active learning opportunities on
the internet, too, and though it's not a
good idea to encourage too much
screen-watching, they do have their
place in today's world. However,
don't forget that modern technology,
fun though it may be, is no substitute
for spending time talking, sharing and
playing with your child.
Playing and experimenting with
shapes is the most basic and
fundamental way in which children
learn to sort, organise and compare,
and provides building skills which
help with reading and writing as, later
on, they come to recognise letters by
their shape. My little grandson, Tom,
could write and recognise his name
at a very early age because, as he
proudly pointed out to me, "it has a
circle" in the middle. Once a child
knows the names of the shapes, he
can then verbally identify similarly
shaped objects and differentiate one
object from another. It has been said
that young children are natural
mathematicians and scientists, and
certainly ideas related to shape,
which have been understood at an
early age, help children with maths
and physics in school. So, who
knows - I may have a budding
Einstein in the family!
Chris Laude
St Chads Church, Linden Avenue, Woodseats
email: office@stchads.org
Church Offices: 15 Camping Lane, Sheffield S8 0GB Page 9 website: www.stchads.org
Tel: (0114) 274 5086