Games to reinforce colors and shapes.
School year is back and we teachers are geared
up and ready to teach our little ones with new ideas or at lease create a
variation to our teaching methods.
Well, here I will share some variations on
activities I’ve been doing with my preschool students in our Spanish class to
reinforce colors and shapes.
When introducing young children to shapes, I
prefer to use neutral color shapes. Once students are well familiar with the
shapes, I introduce different color shapes. Prior to teaching the shapes,
students should already know the colors that have been taught to them. (I use the same colors we have been working
on). So for example, I’ve been working with four colors in Spanish (yellow,
green, blue and red) so I will make shapes in those colors. That way we are
reinforcing shapes while keeping the colors present. That way I’m always
incorporating what we have learned with new material.
So here are some ideas and suggestions that have
worked for me.
1.
The
asking game: Have three or four shapes of the
same but with a different color each. Ask students: “¿de qué color es el
círculo?” and son on with the other shapes. (suitable for students 2 -5)
2.
The
mistake game: My students love this one because
they like the fact that they are helping the “teacher”. Have a basket with
different color shapes in it. Tell students:
“Voy a buscar un triángulo azul” and after looking for a few seconds
take out a different color triangle from the one you are looking for and then
ask students: “¿es el triángulo azul?” they normally say while laughing a big
“no”. Let’s say I took out green instead of blue, I have had students even say
the color. They will say: “no, it’s verde”
So I keep looking and do the same two or three times until I finally
take out the right one and they will say “yes”. This is a good time to
introduce to them how to say yes in Spanish. (suitable for students 4 -5)
3.
The
finding game: Place the different color shapes on the table
and pick students one at a time to find the shape and color you select. (suitable
for students 3 -5)
4.
Variation
to game 3: Have students sit in a big circle
and place all the color shapes in the middle and have students take turns in a
clockwise or counterclockwise motion finding the shape and color you select. (suitable
for students 3 -5)
5.
The
basket game: Have a basket with different color
shapes. Pass the basket around and when you say “alto” the person with the
basket takes out the color shape you asked the student to find.
(suitable for students 3 -5)
Suggestions: you can put on a lively music as students pass the basket and stop
the music and who ever has the basket at that time takes out the shape and
color you select. Similar to hot potato game.
This is a good time to
introduce negation in Spanish for the finding game and the basket game. When a
student takes out the wrong shape or color you can say: “no es el círculo
rojo”, for example. After doing these
activities for a while, students will become more and more familiar with them
and will naturally answer in the affirmative and negative in Spanish.
6.
Patterns and sequencing games: Use
the shapes and colors for creating games where patterns and sequence are
introduced as shown in the picture below. (suitable for students 3 -5)
They can also create groups by
color or by shape. All these different activities done over a period of time
will help students remember and internalize the shapes and colors in a fun and
engaging way.
7.
You can use these shapes to
introduce or practice “yo tengo”. Have each student take out a shape out of the
basket. Then ask questions such as: “¿quién tiene el círculo rojo? the child
who has it should say: “yo tengo el círculo rojo” and so on.
I’m sure you will come up with
your own ideas as well. Feel free to comment and share your ideas, comments and
feedback!
You can access the neutral
color shapes and different color shapes for free here.
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Have fun!
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