Shape Tracing Activities for Toddlers (free printable)

My toddler has been spending a lot of time exploring different shapes lately. I wanted some super simple activity ideas that didn’t require a lot of preparation on my part. I made some simple free shape printables that we could use as a starting point for these shape activities.

Targeted Skills:

fine motor skills
shape recognition
saying the name of the shape
spatial awareness

Large Shape Cards Included:

square shapes
circle shapes
triangle shapes
rectangle shapes
oval shapes
star shapes
rhombus shapes (diamond)
heart shapes

Try some of these easy ideas to set up an opportunity to create and talk about basic shapes and the shape name. Learning about shapes as your child practices working with different tools and art mediums!

Use the free printables and give one of these activities a try!

Color the Shapes

It doesn’t get any simpler or low prep than this! Provide a variety of different color materials and allow your little Picasso to color (in, on, around) the shape. My daughter seems to LOVE colored pencils lately, but crayons or washable markers are also a hit. Or to change it up a bit, put it in a sheet protector and let your little one use a dry erase marker to color and recolor the shape.

Stickers

Whip out some stickers from your stash (dollar stores are a great place to stock up) and encourage your little one to put stickers inside the shape or on the outline (depending on their ability level) of the shape mats. What a fun way to use stickers.

Shape Playdough Mats

Stick the template inside a page protector and help them roll playdough into snakes and outline the shape. Or, if your child is like mine and making little balls is the playing method of choice, count little playdough balls as they place them inside the shape. This is a great way to practice shapes with playdough.

Paint

Painting is a sure fire way to stave off a tantrum in our house. The easiest way for me is to get out the Do-A-Dot paints (amazon affiliate), but finger painting, painting with a paintbrush, or using other random items to paint is also lots of fun.

We have used sponges or cotton balls, but you could also use a feather or leaf, a toilet paper roll molded into a shape, or even plastic shapes from shape sorters as a stamp.

Stamp

Grab a washable ink pad and a fun stamp or two and allow your little ones to decorate the shape with their stamps. You can also use plastic shapes from a shape sorter as a stamp.

Glue

Gluing is probably the favorite craft for my daughter. Spread glue in the middle of the shape and challenge your child to cover the glue with tissue paper or construction paper pieces of different sizes.

A different way is to help your little ones outline the shape with something fun like pasta, candy pieces, or beans. My daughter will help me squeeze the liquid glue along the outline and then place the objects along the glue.

You can also give older toddlers a paint brush to trace shapes with the glue and then line the shape with materials. This is a great activity for young learners to practice making straight lines.