Color and shape recognition are wonderful skills for toddlers to get to grips with.

From an early age, little ones enjoy pointing out the round window or the rectangle bus when out and about. Identifying these shapes and learning their names can help children build on their developing vocabulary. It also gives them a good foundation for when they start learning their numbers and letters, which are essentially all shapes!

When starting to teach your child shapes it’s a good idea to start with the most basic ones, for example, square, triangle or circle. Then once they are confident with these you can start adding in more complex shapes like rectangle, heart or diamond.

There are great games and toys you can play with your child to help them learn their shapes. One of the most popular toys for this is the classic Shape Sorter where your child learns shape recognition by matching the shape to the hole.

We turned this classic toy into a friendly Tortoise whose head can be bobbed up and down whilst your child is choosing which shape to try!

You can also use the shapes from a shape sorter for a simple activity. Use play-doh, roll it out flat, then ask your child to have fun pressing the wooden shapes into the play-doh so that it leaves an imprint of the shape.

This is a wonderful and tactile activity for your child and will also help them learn the names of the shapes as they are doing it! You can also use other shapes like stones, shells etc We even tried Duplo, although be careful not to get it stuck in the holes!

For more details about our friendly Tortoise Shape Sorter, click here! We also have a gorgeous shape sorting ark, and some exciting baby block toys available online.