Learning Shapes

A shape puzzle is often the first time a child stops, turns a piece and looks again. This range gathers wooden inset boards, 3D geometric solids and tactile shape games from age 1, to learn circles, squares and triangles by hand and by eye.

The first wooden shape puzzle, from 12 months

Start with the first shapes and colours peg puzzle: a few chunky pieces with knobs that are easy to lift out and drop back in. A circle fits whichever way it turns, a square needs a little rotation, a triangle even more. Your child discovers this alone, by trying.

From 18 months, the Montessori board with 12 geometric shapes puts twelve outlines side by side, so your child has to compare before choosing, and from 2 the shape and number inset puzzle puts numbers alongside the shapes.

Naming shapes: insets, solids and a mystery bag

• Geometric inset puzzles (10-piece set, ages 3+): each shape lifts out of its frame, and the piece can be traced around with a pencil, an early step towards writing.
• 3D geometric solids (ages 3+): sphere, cube, cone and friends, stored in a drawstring bag, a classic set among wooden Montessori toys.
• Tactile memory and matching game (ages 3+): your child slips a hand into the bag and finds the twin of a shape by touch alone, without looking.
• Fraction blocks and solids and a counting and maths matching game, for children ready to split shapes into parts or move on to numbers.
• A pre-writing tracing tablet with stylus, to follow lines and curves.

A three-step way to teach a new shape

The Montessori method uses a simple lesson: "This is a triangle" while tracing its edge; then "Show me the triangle"; and only later "What is this?". Keep it to two or three shapes at a time and stop while your child is still keen. Before long your child will be spotting triangles on road signs and circles on plates.