Shapes in Nature

Looking for a fun way to teach your students how to identify common shapes – take them outside. Shapes are all around us in nature. Here are some suggestions for finding them and fun ideas for further exploration.

Dance with Leaves 
Using a variety of leaves, ask the children to show you how they might use their body 
to look like the same shape as the leaves. Scatter leaves and play a version of musical 
chairs. When music stops each child goes to a leaf and makes their body look like 

the leaf shape. 

Hide and Seek with Shapes Game

Place small natural items (such as leaves, rocks, flowers) that are basic shapes onto a tray. Cover up the tray and take one away. Let the children guess which one is missing.

I Spy with Homemade Binoculars

Make binoculars for your students by stapling, gluing or taping two toilet paper tubes together. Punch holes in the tubes and attach yarn to make a neck strap. Encourage each child to decorate their binoculars with paints or stickers.

Using their binoculars, have children play, “I Spy”, for shapes within their natural environment.  Begin by saying, “I spy with my two eyes something the shape of…..”.  Children then have to look for that item and either name it, or go stand by it, if able.

Schoolyard Shape Guide

Make a shape guide to your schoolyard. Encourage children to find things outside that are different shapes and take pictures of them. Come inside and print the pictures and make a book. Have the child dictate their picture and write it down. Make into a book to read to the class and then add to your library.

Shape Scavenger Hunt

Take pictures of shapes both inside and outside the school. Make a copy of each picture. Have your students locate where that shape is.

Shape Walk

Give each child a construction paper shape cutout and have them string them onto a necklace (a labeled shape template is available on the Project Learning Tree website).  Take a short walk outside and have them look for various shapes outside.  When you return to your classroom, hold up each shape and have them tell you what they saw outside that was that shape.

• What did you see outside shaped like a ___________?
• Which shapes did you see the most?
• Which shapes are your favorites?

Spiral Art

Coil short lengths of rope into spirals. Press them into paint or ink and use them to print on paper. Make patterns or, with pens or markers, fill in more details to create artwork.

Twig Shapes
Provide twigs in varying lengths and shapes. Let the children make the shapes with 

the twigs (printable shape cards are available on the Project Learning Tree website). You could also cut the twigs so they are fractions of each other (e.g., two red twigs are the same length as one gray twig).

Reading Connections

Carter, D.A. 1996. Colors and Shapes. Little Simon.

Cole, H. 1998. I Took a Walk. HarperCollins Publishers.
Dodds, D. 1996. The Shape of Things. Candlewick Press.

Dotlich, R. 2000. What is a Triangle? HarperCollins Publishers.

Dotlich, R. 1999. What is a Square? HarperCollins Publishers.

Hoban, T. 2000. Shapes, Shapes, Shapes. HarperCollins Publishers.

Hoban, T. 1998. So Many Circles, So Many Squares.      HarperCollins Publishers.

Pallotta, J. 2004. Icky Bug Shapes. Scholastic, Inc.

Rau, D.M. 2006. Star in My Orange: Looking for Nature's Shapes. Lerner Publishing Group. Roemer, H.B. 2004. Come to My Party and Other Shape Poems. Henry Holt & Company, Incorporated.

Rotner, S. 1992. Nature Spy. Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing.

Roy, J.R. 2005. Patterns in Nature. Benchmark Books.

Sohi, M.E. 1995. Look What I Did with a Leaf! Walker & Company.

Stockdale, S. 1999. Nature's Paintbrush: The Patterns and Colors around You. Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing.

Swinburne, S.R. 2002. Lots and Lots of Zebra Stripes: Patterns in Nature. Boyds Mills Press.