Learning Shapes with CONNETIX

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With CONNETIX coming in various shapes and sizes, it’s no surprise that learning shape and symmetry can happen so incidentally when children play with the tiles. Both 2D and 3D shapes are an important part of mathematics and playing with CONNETIX provides ample opportunities for children to gain a deeper understanding of shape. Children can learn to name shapes and identify its properties (sides, vertices and faces), and the concept of symmetry can also come into play. Shape knowledge leads to more abstract concepts, such as spatial awareness. Can you imagine trying to pack a car for travel without this skill? You would have a hard time! Children who play with CONNETIX develop these skills and apply their knowledge in real life situations.

Identifying shapes.

While there are lots of fun activities we can do to teach children about shapes (which I’ll outline below), learning also happens during unstructured play. As children build with CONNETIX, they’re already playing with shapes! For example, when creating a rocket ship, children might build a hexagonal pyramid for the top and a hexagonal prism for the body, without realising the names of these 3D shapes. Our role is to seek out these learning opportunities and use the mathematical language to expand their vocabulary, for example “Wow you’ve built a symmetrical rocket ship! What shapes have you used to make it?” If they’re naming 2D shapes confidently, extend it further and point out the 3D shapes that make up the structure. Children have an innate desire to learn and what we say to them can be invaluable in supporting their curiosity. 
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The first shapes most children learn to identify and name are circles, triangles, squares and rectangles. These shapes are all available in the CONNETIX packs and now there are even quarter circles to make a circle in the latest Shape Expansion Pack. No matter what stage of play children are at, they can discover a whole world of shapes as they design and construct with their tiles. Even during pack up time, encourage children to sort and stack the tiles by the shape as this teaches them to recognise and classify shapes. 

When my children first started playing with CONNETIX, they would line up the squares and make cubes or big towers. We had a combination of small and large squares so I would make comments about the shape and size to build their mathematical language for example “You’ve used 2 big squares and 4 small squares”. As they began to use more shapes to build their structures, I would ask “What shapes have you used to make it?”

As my children developed a deeper understanding of basic shapes, they began to make their own observations of 2D and 3D shapes. When they ran out of squares for building, they would use 2 right-angled triangles or 2 rectangles to form a square. If they ran out of large squares, they would combine 4 small squares to make it. By searching for alternatives, they learned which shapes could be combined to form the same shape. 
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The Geometry and Shape Expansion Pack further extends knowledge and understanding of shape. The new geometric shapes encourage children to analyse 2D and 3D shapes in various sizes and orientations. As they rotated the shapes, my children not only discovered that 6 equilateral triangles make a hexagon but also 3 equilateral triangles make a trapezium, 2 trapeziums make a hexagon, 3 rhombuses make a hexagon and so on! My 4 year old son pointed out that “2 half hexagons make 1 hexagon” which presented another learning opportunity to discuss fractions. Our magnetic tiles truly encourage child-led learning and discovery.

Learn about nets of 3D shapes

CONNETIX enables children to learn about nets of 3D shapes in an interactive, hands-on way. A net is what a 3D shape would look like if it was unfolded. When I was at school, we learned about nets of 3D shapes by cutting along a piece of paper to fold and glue the shape. Using CONNETIX, children can form a cube by using 6 square tiles, then take it apart and lay it flat to make a net. We can also use our tiles to make nets for cuboids, prisms and pyramids. CONNETIX provide the resource cards for this which are a great teaching tool to help children understand 3D nets.﻿When learning about 3D shapes on paper, it can be challenging for children to know what the shape properties are called and to count the sides without getting lost in the counting process. Physically holding the shape in the form of a magnetic tile is a tactile and interactive way for children to count the faces, sides and vertices with more ease and accuracy. ﻿

While playing with CONNETIX, children also learn to understand that even when translations, rotations and reflections change the position and orientation, the shape remains the same. This means that even when two squares are rotated into different positions, they are still squares. With the new Shape Expansion pack, children can also compare a small equilateral triangle with a large equilateral triangle. The features are the same – 3 corners and 3 equal sides – meaning that size does not change the kind of shape it is. On paper, this can be challenging for some children who see different sizes and orientations as different shapes. However, when they have a magnetic tile in their hand, they can rotate it, slide it or flip it and see that the shape does not change.﻿

Play ideas

For children who enjoy activities to further extend their skills and knowledge, here are some ideas for learning shape:
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Symmetry puzzle: create half an image for children to finish off by mirroring the picture. Children learn how to rotate and tessellate their magnetic tiles to create a reflection.
Shape puzzle: trace shapes and ask children to find the corresponding tile to match the shape. For a more difficult activity, trace the outline of CONNETIX to create a picture and ask children to find shapes to fill in the gaps. 
Nets of 3D shapes: using the CONNETIX 3D series resource cards, invite children to lay out the tiles to make the net, then fold it up to form the shape. 
Shape combinations: challenge children to demonstrate all the ways they can think of to form a shape, for example a large square can be formed by either 4 small squares, 8 small right-angled triangles or 8 small rectangles. 

Credit: @playing_withtandb

credit: @hotcoffee_creativekids

credit: @hotcoffee_creativekids

Written byJessica Chu

Jess is a primary school teacher turned stay at home mum. She has 5 children ranging from 8 months old to 7 years old. Jess believes learning happens naturally through play. She has intentionally curated open-ended toys in her home to foster creativity, a love for play and a desire for learning.