Hear the shape, tap the one that matches
A big shape sits at the top of the screen and a voice names it: find the star. Below are four smaller shapes, and your child taps the one that is the same. A right answer gets a cheer and the next shape arrives once the cheer has finished. Tap the big shape, or the round arrow button, to hear the name again.
Each shape gets one tap. A wrong tap is marked, the voice says oops, incorrect, and the right shape lights up for a moment before the next one arrives, so your child sees the answer and never gets stuck. Each round has 50 shapes, with confetti every ten right answers. The score under the shapes shows how many were right and how many were wrong, and at the end of a round your child can play it again or move on.
Three rounds, from circles to trapezoids
Round one uses the shapes most children pick out first: circle, square, triangle, star, heart, rectangle, oval and diamond. Every shape on the screen is the same color, so shape is the only thing that is different, and shapes that look alike, such as a square and a diamond, are never shown together.
Round two adds crescent, cross, arrow, pentagon and hexagon. Now each shape comes in its own color, and the shape at the top is a different color from the right answer below. A green star still matches a red star. Matching shape while ignoring color is the real skill, and this round is where it starts.
Round three adds semicircle, octagon, trapezoid and parallelogram, turns the shape to find into a plain outline and lets look-alikes meet. A square can sit next to a rectangle and a diamond, a circle next to an oval and an octagon. Telling them apart means counting corners and comparing sides, the same thinking kindergarten math asks for.
A shape never comes back soon after it was the one to find. The game waits until most of the shapes in the round have had a turn, so your child is not asked for a circle twice in a row.
Shapes are a first step toward letters
A letter is really a shape made of lines and curves. A child who can see that a triangle has three points, or that a crescent is a circle with a bite taken out, is using the same careful looking they will need to tell b from d later on. Shape games are not a detour from reading, they are part of the road to it.
Getting more out of each round
Talk about what makes each shape itself. A triangle has three pointy corners. A square has four sides that are all the same. A circle has no corners at all. You do not need to teach the words side or corner, just trace the shape in the air with a finger as you say its name, and let your child copy you. If your child taps the wrong shape, point at the one that lights up and say its name together before the next one arrives.
If your child already taps shapes with ease, the shapes section of our alphabet games is a good next step, because dragging a shape into its outline asks for a steadier hand than tapping it.
Shape hunts around the house
After a round, go looking. A plate is a circle, a door is a rectangle, a slice of pizza is a triangle and many stop signs are octagons. Children remember a shape they found on their own dinner table far better than one on a screen, and the game gives them the names to use when they find it.
Frequently asked questions
What age is the shape matching game for?
Most children who play are between two and six. Round one suits a two or three year old with a grown-up nearby. Round three asks a child to tell a square from a rectangle and a circle from an octagon by outline alone, which matches what kindergarten math asks: naming shapes whatever their color, size or the way they are turned.
How is this different from the shapes in alphabet games?
The shapes section of our alphabet games asks a child to drag each shape into its outline, which needs a steady finger. This game only asks for a tap, so it suits children who cannot drag yet, and it grows to many more shapes and harder look-alikes for older children.
What happens when my child taps the wrong shape?
The voice says oops, incorrect, the right shape lights up for a moment so your child can see it, and the next shape arrives. Each shape gets one tap, so right and wrong always add up to the shapes played. If wrong stays high in a round, play that round again before moving on.