I’ve combined shape learning with gross motor skills before, but this was a great twist on the activity. Veronika has added a few new shapes to her repertoire, and she’s also been interested in learning all the various ways that she can move a ball lately (kicking, bouncing, rolling). This activity combined both beautifully!

On the floor, I first made giant shapes with masking tape, adding one of each she knows so far (minus the circle, which is tricky to make out of tape!). We ended up with: square, rectangle, triangle, star, pentagon, and hexagon.

I handed her a bouncy ball and let the game begin! From here, simply give your toddler instructions for both how to move the ball and which shape to move it to.

“Bounce the ball to the triangle!” I told her. Or, “Kick the ball to the star.”

Sometimes I let her pick a shape, and simply let her get the ball there anyway she wanted. But she had to tell me the shape each time!

This was great for shape review, and I loved that it got her thinking more about kicking and tossing the ball, since her fall-back has usually been bouncing.