Douglas H.

Clements
Geometry at three? You bet! From an early age, children make sense of the shapes
they see in the world around them.
Your toddler, after some experimentation, puts a square block into a square hole. It fits! She
tries again. Success is a great feeling.
Watching this thoughtful exploration, you might ask yourself: What does my child know
about shapes? What is she learning? What more will she learn in preschool? What might she
learn if given the opportunity?
Your children "do" mathematics spontaneously in their lives and in their play. We've all seen
preschoolers exploring shares and patterns, drawing and creating geometric designs, taking
joy in recognizing and naming specific shapes they see. This is geometry -- an area of
mathematics that is one of the most natural and fun for young children.
During the preschool years, children's intuitive knowledge of geometry frequently exceeds
their numerical skills. By building on strengths and interests that are already present,
parents and teachers can foster enthusiasm for mathematics and provide a logical context
to develop number ideas.
In a preschool classroom you might see a scene that looks something like this: A teacher
challenges Michelle and Debbie to use their bodies to make a shape together. The children
sit down facing each other and stretch their legs apart. With feet touching, they create a
diamond. Another child takes a look, sees the diamond shape, and says: "If we put
someone inside, we can make two triangles." Immediately, they ask Ray, the smallest child,
to scrunch in and lie across the middle. It works! A diamond can be divided into two
triangles. Michelle notes that there's a shape that has six sides, and she wants to try
making one of those. Another child may even know that the shape is called a hexagon. After
a brief discussion, Michelle gets five other children together. Then, under her direction, they
all lie down on the floor and create a six-sided shape.
Building your child's geometric imagination
Preschoolers are learning to make mental images -- pictures they can carry in their minds.
Young children ten to form static images -- "still" mental pictures they can refer to. Older
children are learning to form dynamic images that they can move or change. For examples:
Five-year-old Brian eyes the gerbil cage, trying to figure out if it will fit in the back of his
mother's car. He thinks so, and later that day he finds out he's right. Building children's
geometric imaginations is an important part of exploring spatial relations and experiencing
mathematics.
By age six, children often have stable yet limiting ideas about shapes. Four-year-old Tina
tells her teacher, "That's not a square. It's too big. A square looks like this." Her classmate

Charlie adds, "Triangles have to be this way. That's not a triangle. It's too upside down." You
can broaden your child's understanding by pointing out to her a variety of examples -squares that are many sizes and triangles that are "long," "skinny," "fat," and turned in
many directions.
You can also encourage deeper thinking about shapes not just through hands-on activities
and discussion, but through picture books. In The Greedy Triangle by Marilyn Burns
(Scholastic Inc.), a triangle gets so bored being the same old shape that it asks a
shapeshifter for one more side and one more angle. Then it becomes a quadrilateral. After
demanding more sides and angles and becoming a pentagon, hexagon, and so on, the
shape learns that being a triangle is the most interesting after all. [For more books about
math, see "Good math reads" on page 51.]
Building imagery
Your child's teacher will be engaging the class in various activities that encourage
mathematical thinking. For instance, she will be helping children continue to build static and
dynamic images through manipulative work with shapes such as unit blocks, puzzles, and
tangrams.
After children have plenty of time to explore and work with these materials, she'll introduce
"quick-image" activities. This is something that you and your child can easily do at home.
Just draw a simple set of shapes on a piece of paper. Then give your child a brief glimpse
and cover the image back up. You might draw a square divided into two small squares and a
rectangle. After your child has had a quick look, ask her to share what she has seen. She
may respond be describing the shapes or talking about the images she is reminded of.
Remember: There really aren't any incorrect responses. You simply want to involve her in
thinking about shapes and what she sees.
Building with blocks
When your child plays with blocks, he is creating forms and structures that are based on
mathematical relationships. For example: When children are working to make a roof for
their block building, they are struggling with the concept of "length relationships." When
they substitute two shorter blocks for one long one, they are working with the concept of
"equivalence." As they continue building -- higher and higher, wider and wider -- they are
considering height, area, and volume.
Encourage your child to discuss his thinking and help him put words to his actions. For
example if your child and a friend are arguing over whose block tower is biggest, ask if they
mean whose building is tallest or widest or whose tower has the most blocks. They may be
surprised to find that the tallest tower doesn't have the most blocks! This gives them a new
way to consider what they're doing. You can also engage your child in thinking about the
similarities and differences among the blocks they use and the structures they make.
Suggest that he try a variety of challenges -- putting blocks in order by length or using
shorter blocks to make a wall that's a s long as the longest block.

Remember that these activities are not meant to determine your child's aptitude for math or
to see how many right responses he comes up with. They are, instead, opportunities to
explore the properties of mathematics and encourage children to participate in logical,
creative, and critical thinking.
Mapping the world
As all parents and teachers know, young children learn to get around early. But what can
they understand about place and movement mathematically? Is it reasonable to think that
your young child could actually make and use maps? Consider this:

Many three-year olds can build simple but meaningful maps with landscape toys such
as houses, cars, and trees. Some threes can even replicate a room in miniature using
blocks, toys, and other props.
Many older preschoolers know about relative distances between landmarks. For
example, without having been specifically told, four-year-old Andrea many know that there
is a greater distance between her house and Grandma's than there is between her house
and the stop sign.
Many children can also place locations based on a route. Let's say you take a walk to
the store with your child. You leave your house, turn right, go down the street one block,
turn right again, and walk one more block to the store. Back at home, stand in front of the
house with your child and ask him where the store is. Without ever having walked the route
"as the crow flies," your child points diagonally in the direction of the store.
When challenged to learn a route through a playhouse that had six rooms, four-yearolds who examined a map beforehand learned a route more quickly than those who did not.
Geometry can be the most fun and naturally engaging aspect of mathematics to explore
with your child. As children learn about the structure of shapes and space, they are building
on what they already know. But we must all keep in mind that children learn these ideas
most effectively through active engagement with toys, blocks, puzzles, manipulatives,
drawings, computers -- and, of course, you!

Math around the house

Your child can learn math through
everyday activities and by using
ordinary household items!
Tableware Setting the table helps your
child grasp the concept of one-to-one
correspondence. How many people are
going to eat? That's how many forks,
spoons, plates, napkins, and so on he'll
need so that there can be one at each
place setting. Through this task your
child will also practice patterning: At
each place, he'll put the napkin and fork

on the left, the plate in the middle, and

the knife and spoon on the right. (Every
now and then you can defy convention
and have your child create a new placesetting pattern.)
Socks Empty out a drawer of socks (or
have your child pick out all the socks
from the clean laundry). Your
preschooler will observe that two of
something makes a pair -- an important
math word. Use the socks to teach him
other math terms. For instance, is the
number of red socks more than, less
than, or equal to the number of blue
socks?
Cereal boxes With cereal and other
food boxes, your child can build towers,
create a for, stack together doll
furniture, and so on -- all of which will
help him visualize three-dimensional
geometric relationships and learn the
concepts of "little," "big," and "bigger."
Buttons You can put to good use all
those miscellaneous fasteners you've
saved over the years. Empty your button
box and encourage your child to see how
many ways they "go together." He can
sort them by size, by number of holes,
or by color. This will help him see that
items can be sorted and classified inn
many ways. (This activity is for children
over age three who do not put small
objects in their mouth.)

Good math reads

Here are some great books about
shapes and maps:
As the Crow Flies by Gail Hartman,
illustrate by Harvey Stevenson

(Bradbury Press)
Grandfather Tang's Story by Amy
Tompert, illustrated by Robert Andrew
Parker (Crown Publishers, Inc.)
The Shape of Things by D.A. Dodds
(Candlewick Press)

Getting around!
Young children are not necessarily
natural map readers, but they do
possess impressive abilities that can be
fun and exciting to explore. Here are
some activities to do just that:
Where are we? Offer your child cut-out
felt shapes of items in her backyard,
such as trees, a picnic table, a swing
set, the sandbox, and so on. Encourage
her to lay out the shapes on a felt board
to make a simple map. (The same can
be done for her bedroom.) Point out
that changing any item would change
the map.
Which way is up? Your child may be
ready to learn environmental directions
such as "above," "over," and "behind,"
and develop navigation ideas such as
"font," "back," "going forward," and
"turning." To foster this learning, help
her represent these concepts on simple
maps. For instance: Ask her to use
masking tape and help you mark a path
from the door to the wastebasket.
Together decide where to glue the door
and the wastebasket on a large sheet of
paper. Then look for and list the items
on the map. As you child gets the hang
of map making, she may want to work
on some more complicated maps.
What's your perspective? Provide
opportunities for your child to explore

perspective. Take photographs of your

home from different perspectives and
spread them out on a table to discuss
and think about. Another idea is to
photograph your child's favorite
playground equipment from different
perspectives. Mix up the photographs
and let her sort them according to
structure.

Did you know?

Given a mixed grouping of
shapes, 82 to 92 percent of
preschoolers can pick out all of one
type: rectangles, triangles, squares, or
circles.
Young children are accurate at
naming squares even when the squares
are tilted.
Many young children recognize
rectangles even when they are tilted.
Surprise! Statistics show that as
children get older, their knowledge
about shapes doesn't necessarily
increase. That tells us we're not doing
an effective job of building on children's
great beginnings.

Promoting math thinking at home

Here are some guidelines to keep in
mind:
Acknowledge your child's work by
describing it rather than just saying it is
"wonderful" or "good." This helps her
learn to value feedback and to really
listen to what you are saying.
Ask questions instead of making
corrections.

Accept unusual or unexpected

solutions.
Comment on your child's work
with observations like these:
"I see that you have lined up
three triangles and two circles. Tell me
about your pattern."
"Would you tell me why you
decided to do it that way?"
"That's a creative way of thinking
about it. Let me know what you decide."
"That's an interesting plan. Is
there anything you want me to do?"
"I noticed that you matched a
yellow sock with a blue one. Can you tell
me why you decided to do that?"
"Thank you for setting the table. I
see you placed a napkin on each plate."
Good questions to ask:
"What do you suppose would
happen if?"
"What will you do next?"
"I wonder"
"How can we check to see how
close your guess is?"
"Why do you think that?"
"How did you figure that out?"
"Do you have any ideas about
how we might begin?"
"How can we do this differently?"
"Hmm. I hadn't thought of that.
Can you tell me about it?"
"Tell me about your pattern."
"What other things can we find
shaped like a square/circle/triangle?"
Adapted from Family Math for Young Children by
Grace Davila Coates and Jean Kerr Stenmark
(Lawrence Hall of Science, university of California at
Berkeley, 1997).

Acknowledgements:
Author's note: Time to prepare this materials was partially provided by National Science
Foundation Research Grant NSF MDS-8954664, "An Investigation of the Development of
Elementary Children's Geometry Thinking in Computer and Noncomputer Environments" and
National Science Foundation, grant ESI-9730804, "Building BlocksFoundations for

Mathematical Thinking, Pre-Kindergarten to Grade 2: Research-based Materials

Development." Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in
this publication are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the
National Science Foundation.
Also note that the photos by John Fortunato, that were part of the original article, are not
included in this online version.
Author Info:
Douglas H. Clements, Ph.D., is a professor of early childhood education at the State
University of New York at Buffalo and an active research and writer in mathematics and
computer education. He has also taught preschool and kindergarten.
Other Articles by Douglas H. Clements:
7 Ways to Add Math to Everyday Play
Analyzing Children's Length Strategies with Two-Dimensional Tasks: What Counts For
Length?
Building Blocks of Early Childhood Mathematics PDF
Building Blocks for early childhood mathematics PDF
Building Blocks for Young Children's Mathematical Development PDF
A Case for a Logo-Based Elementary School Geometry Curriculum
Challenges for Teachers Attempting to Integrate a Mathematics Innovation
Computers in Early Childhood Mathematics PDF
Computers and Mathematical Assessment
Computers Support Algebraic Thinking
"Concrete" Manipulatives, Concrete Ideas
Constructing Geometric Concepts in Logo
Constructivist Teaching and Learning
The Earliest Geometry PDF
The Effective Use of Computers with Young Children

The Future of Educational Computing Research: The Case of Computer Programming PDF
The Geometric World of Young Children PDF
Geometry and Proof
Help Your Child Think Big!
Mathematics for Young Children
Mathematics in the Preschool PDF
Metacognition, Learning, and Educational Computer Environments
(Mis?)Constructing Constructivism
My Turn: A Talk with the Logo Turtle
Network of Influences in an Implementation of a Mathematics Curriculum Innovation
Playing with Computers, Playing with Ideas
Preschool and Kindergarten Mathematics: A National Conference PDF
Research on Logo: A Decade of Progress
Rethinking Concrete Manipulatives
The Role of Technology PDF
Students' Development of Length Concepts in a Logo-Based Unit on Geometric Paths PDF
Subitizing: What Is It? Why Teach It? PDF
Teaching Length Measurement: Research Challenges PDF
Technology and school change: New lamps for old?
Translating from Research into Mathematics Classrooms: Mathematics and Special Needs
Students
Using Spatial Imagery in Geometric Reasoning
Viewpoint: We Need Integrated Research and Software Development
Young Children and Technology

Young Childrens Concepts of Shape PDF