Teach Geometry Math Games to Kids

Whenever we hear the word geometry it brings the jitters to us and we are aware that geometry is a branch of mathematics which is concerned with the measurement of length, area and volume as well as shape, size and properties of space and position of figures. Quite a lot of things to learn and understand considering that the study of geometry already deal with three dimensional objects and not just the ordinary shapes that we have been taught.

Let us take a look at how we can help our children understand and learn geometry through the help of Math games. The first thing we should teach our kids regarding geometry is the concept of shapes. For kids, we can make our own games for them to be able to identify shapes:

  • Cut out the basic shapes from colored board paper such as:

    Ask your kids to identify the names of each shape then let them give you or name objects or items that have the same shape. You can make a game out of this by declaring the one who has the longest list of objects per shape as the winner. Later on you can add other shapes like oblong, octagon, hexagon, trapezoid, pentagon, etc.

  • Teach your kids how to identify the difference of each shape, such as:

    • A triangle has three sides
    • A square has four equal sides
    • A rectangle has four sides, two parallel sides are shorter than the other two
    • A trapezoid has four sides and two of them are parallel
    • A pentagon has five sides
    • A hexagon has six sides
    • A heptagon has seven sides
    • An octagon has eight sides
    • A nonagon has nine sides
    • A decagon has ten sides

  • You can also make overlapping shapes and have your kids count how many of a specific shape are present in the drawing. Here is an example: How many triangles do you see in this picture?

    This will really keep the kids thinking and you can also try and cut out several rectangles and put them together in this way to give them a tangible replica of this picture.

  • You can also provide the kids with different shapes and ask them to create a rectangle using a combination of any of these shapes you provided. Here is an example: Determine how many of each shape on your left is needed to make a rectangle like the one on the right.

    Again you can make or cut out different shapes and have your kids create their own shapes and design by putting together different shapes. This is a good exercise in shape recognition, area and measurement for the kids.

    You can also think and design other games you can play with your kids that will catch their attention, bring fun and easily teach them geometry. Just bear in mind what concepts of geometry you would like to teach them and it will be as easy as counting numbers to them later on.