Early Learning Ideas

Engaging Activities for Little Learners

  • Home
  • Math
  • Literacy
    • Name Activities
    • Alphabet Activities
    • Beginning Sound Activities
    • Rhyming Activities
    • sight word activities
    • Book Ideas
  • Fine Motor
    • Fine Motor
    • Playdough
    • Sensory play
  • Science
  • Dramatic Play
  • Art & Crafts
    • Art Ideas
    • Craft Ideas
  • Themes
  • Seasonal
    • Beginning of School Year
    • Christmas
    • Easter
    • end of school year
    • fall
    • Halloween
    • Mother’s Day
    • spring
    • St. Patrick’s Day
    • summer
    • Thanksgiving
    • Valentine’s Day
    • winter
You are here: Home / Math / How to Use These Free Printable Shape Cards

How to Use These Free Printable Shape Cards

Pin2K
Share6
Tweet
2K Shares

Use these free printable shape cards to teach 2-dimensional shapes. Directions include many ways to add texture to the cards to create a hands-on sensory learning activity. Kids can trace the textured shapes with their fingers or use them for tracing practice.


I learn best when I can feel, touch, or experience something….and many kids do too. Today, I have some printable shape cards for you and I will show you how you can add some texture to the shape cards.  Kids can trace the textured shapes with their fingers to get some sensory input as they learn each shape.

Use these free printable shape cards to teach 2-D shapes to preschoolers. Use them for tracing or create tactile shape cards for finger tracing... a great hands-on sensory activity. Kids will have fun learning shapes with these fun cards. Perfect for your math center in preschool, pre-k, and kindergarten. Use in small group and independent activities. Download the free printables today for your shape activities. #preschool #preschoolmath #sensory

You can make your own shape cards by drawing shapes on index cards. Click the link below to get your copy of my free printable shape cards.

Printable Shape Cards

I like to print the cards on brightly colored card stock.  Once you have them printed, there are many ways that you can add textures to the shapes.  Here are a few ideas.

Sand Shape Cards

To make sand textured shapes I added a line of glue to the outline of each shape.  Then, I sprinkled some colored sand onto the wet glue and shook off the excess sand.

Use these free printable shape cards to teach 2-D shapes to preschoolers. Use them for tracing or create tactile shape cards for finger tracing... a great hands-on sensory activity. Kids will have fun learning shapes with these fun cards. Perfect for your math center in preschool, pre-k, and kindergarten. Use in small group and independent activities. Download the free printables today for your shape activities. #preschool #preschoolmath #sensory

When the glue dried, I added a second line of glue on top of the sand.  I could still feel the texture of the sand after applying the second layer of glue.  The second layer just seemed to help the sand stick better.

Use these free printable shape cards to teach 2-D shapes to preschoolers. Use them for tracing or create tactile shape cards for finger tracing... a great hands-on sensory activity. Kids will have fun learning shapes with these fun cards. Perfect for your math center in preschool, pre-k, and kindergarten. Use in small group and independent activities. Download the free printables today for your shape activities. #preschool #preschoolmath #sensory

Rhinestone Shape Cards

I found this “rhinestone” ribbon in the cake decorating section of my craft store.  I easily cut it into single strips of rhinestones so that I could add a line of bling to a set of cards.

Use these free printable shape cards to teach 2-D shapes to preschoolers. Use them for tracing or create tactile shape cards for finger tracing... a great hands-on sensory activity. Kids will have fun learning shapes with these fun cards. Perfect for your math center in preschool, pre-k, and kindergarten. Use in small group and independent activities. Download the free printables today for your shape activities. #preschool #preschoolmath #sensory

It was a little tricky to add the rhinestones to the curved shapes, but I liked the end result.  I call them rock star shapes!

Use these free printable shape cards to teach 2-D shapes to preschoolers. Use them for tracing or create tactile shape cards for finger tracing... a great hands-on sensory activity. Kids will have fun learning shapes with these fun cards. Perfect for your math center in preschool, pre-k, and kindergarten. Use in small group and independent activities. Download the free printables today for your shape activities. #preschool #preschoolmath #sensory

Glitter Glue Shape Cards

I don’t mind using glitter in a classroom, but I don’t really like to use it in my home. With glitter glue, however, I was able to get some bling on my  cards without the glittery mess.

Use these free printable shape cards to teach 2-D shapes to preschoolers. Use them for tracing or create tactile shape cards for finger tracing... a great hands-on sensory activity. Kids will have fun learning shapes with these fun cards. Perfect for your math center in preschool, pre-k, and kindergarten. Use in small group and independent activities. Download the free printables today for your shape activities. #preschool #preschoolmath #sensory

Additional Texture Ideas

In addition to the ideas pictured above, you could also add texture to the shapes with yarn, twine, ribbon, rubber bands, plastic grass, raffia, twigs, etc.  See my article about tactile letter cards for even more ideas.

Shape Tracing Cards

You don’t want to add texture to your shape cards?  No problem!  You can laminate the little cards so that kids can practice making the shapes with a dry erase marker or crayon.

Use these free printable shape cards to teach 2-D shapes to preschoolers. Use them for tracing or create tactile shape cards for finger tracing... a great hands-on sensory activity. Kids will have fun learning shapes with these fun cards. Perfect for your math center in preschool, pre-k, and kindergarten. Use in small group and independent activities. Download the free printables today for your shape activities. #preschool #preschoolmath #sensory

You can use the shape cards individually, but I like the idea of binding them together.  In the examples in the picture below  I used a hole punch and binder rings to create shape rings.  For some of the books, I used a binding machine (my newest addiction) to bind some of the sets into little books.

Use these free printable shape cards to teach 2-D shapes to preschoolers. Use them for tracing or create tactile shape cards for finger tracing... a great hands-on sensory activity. Kids will have fun learning shapes with these fun cards. Perfect for your math center in preschool, pre-k, and kindergarten. Use in small group and independent activities. Download the free printables today for your shape activities. #preschool #preschoolmath #sensory

I hope that you enjoy using these little shape cards.  Use them as a simple math activity in you math center, as a take-home activity or even in your class library.

More Shape Activities in the Store

You can find additional shape activities in my store.  Click on the images below to check out each resource.

Pin2K
Share6
Tweet
2K Shares
15 of the Best Preschool Rhyming Songs
An Easy Craft for Kids: How to Make Dancing Ribbons

Comments

  1. Lynn says

    July 30, 2016 at 10:32 am

    It’s really cute. I love the innovation

  2. Jennifer says

    June 30, 2016 at 11:22 pm

    Hi Debra,
    I’m not sure what happened, but I fixed the link. I just tested it and the link seems to be working now. If it doesn’t work for you, send me an email at jennifer@earlylearningideas.com and I will email the document to you. Sorry!…and thanks for alerting me to the problem.

  3. Debra Vinton says

    June 30, 2016 at 11:07 pm

    “Click here” doesn’t work. I would love to get my free shape cards to use with my 3’s class. I love the idea of sensory cards. Thanks Debra Vinton

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published.

I accept the Privacy Policy

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest

Looking for something??

Try out these hand strengthening activities for kids. The fun fine motor activities will build and improve strength in little hand muscles. From squeezing activities to hole punch and plunger activities, these ideas to increase hand strength are perfect for preschool, pre-k, kindergarten, occupational therapy classrooms, and at home. From theraputty, toys like squigz, and squirt guns your preschoolers will love these ideas. Check them out today.
Use these free printable nature scavenger hunt books to encourage kids to write, draw, and read while exploring their world. Perfect for pre-k, preschool or kindergarten age kids. Use the free printables in the classroom, on the playground, during nature walks or hikes, on camping trips, in the backyard, or during summer camp. Use this emergent reader for your plant and seeds theme, spring theme, and pond theme unit and lesson plans. #preschool #preschoolactivities
Alphabet activities such as making letter collages or using letter mats are a great hands-on way to teach letter identification and reinforce letter-sounds. Here are over 200 material ideas that you can use for your collages or letter mats. A printable reference list or art and other materials is included. Better than worksheets, these are perfect hands-on activity for your preschool and pre-k classroom or lesson plans. Your young children will love this sensory learning opportunity. #preachool

Available in the Store

Kids love these hole punch activities. Use the printables to build fine motor skills, for hand strengthening, and to improve hand-eye coordination in a fun and exciting way. Perfect for your preschool, pre-k, kindergarten, special education and occupational therapy classroom. The printables include shapes and many themes and seasonal printables to use during spring, summer, winter, and fall. #finemotor #finemotorskills #preschool
Use these 11 different printable name puzzles with your preschoolers for name and literacy activities. Find ideas for the whole year! Perfect for your preschool or kindergarten classroom, or at-home learning or homeschool. Teach your kids to spell their names, construct their names, and the beginning steps to writing their names with these hands-on activities. Make learning fun in fall, winter, spring, & fall with themes from pumpkin, Thanksgiving, caterpillar, snowman, and many more!
There are so many ways that your kids can work on name practice with these editable name activity mats. Perfect for early childhood, preschool, and pre-k classroom, this is a fun way to work on name recognition, the alphabet, letter sounds, spelling their names, handwriting practice, fine motor skills...etc.. You can even include pictures. Use for back to school, the beginning of the school year, an all about me theme unit or lesson plans. #preschool #nameactivities #backtoschool
Use these 1-20 number activity mats to help your kids in preschool, pre-k and kindergarten learn counting, number recognition, one-to-one correspondence, and number sense.  The mats are a great multi-sensory tool that your kids will love. There are so many ways to explore numbers on just one page. Use playdough to form numerals, trace the dotted numbers, represent the number with finger-counting cards, ten frame, and build the number with counting cubes. #preschoolmath #prekmath #kindergarten
Use these CVC Beginning Sound Clip cards to help your kids hear and see the beginning sounds in words. They will love this hands-on early literacy activity...perfect for teaching early literacy concepts in your preschool, pre-k, or kindergarten classroom. 17 word families are included. Looking for ideas for teaching rhyming, letter sounds, phonemic awareness, and phonological awareness? These activities are perfect for your literacy centers as independent and small group activities.
These rhyming clip cards will help your kids see and hear rhymes in simple CVC words. Kids love clipping clothespins on the rhyming words in this activity. Perfect for small group or independent activities in your preschool, pre-k, kindergarten, or SPED classroom. An engaging way to teach rhyming, early literacy concepts, and phonological awareness to young children. #rhymingactivities

Search by Category

Free ABC Clip Cards
  • Contact
  • About Me
  • Archive
  • FAQ
  • Disclosures
  • Privacy Policy
  • Blog

Copyright © 2021 · Early Learning Ideas by Jennifer Hier