Shapes All Around Us: Circles, Squares, and Triangles
Look around the room right now. A clock is a circle. A window might be a square. A slice of pizza looks like a triangle. Shapes are everywhere! When you learn their names, you can spot them all day long, like a shape detective. Counting a shape's sides and corners is the secret way to tell shapes apart. Let's find out how.
What You'll Learn
- The names of four shapes: circle, square, triangle, rectangle - How to count sides and corners - Where to find each shape in real life - How a square and a rectangle are alike and different
The Round Circle
A circle is perfectly round. It has no sides and no corners at all - your finger can slide all the way around and never bump a point. Wheels, coins, and the full moon are circles. You can draw a circle by tracing around a cup.
The Three-Corner Triangle
A triangle has 3 straight sides and 3 pointy corners. The word tri means three, like a tricycle has three wheels! A slice of pizza, a party hat, and a yield road sign are all triangles. Count the corners to be sure - one, two, three.
A quick way to name a shape: count its corners. 3 corners is a triangle. 4 corners is a square or rectangle. 0 corners means it is round - a circle!
Squares and Rectangles
A square has 4 sides that are all the same length and 4 corners. A checkerboard space and a cracker are squares. A rectangle also has 4 sides and 4 corners, but two sides are long and two are short, like a door or a phone. So a square is a special rectangle with all sides equal!
Flashcards — click each card to reveal the answer
Match each shape to something that looks like it.
Terms
Definitions
Drag terms onto their definitions, or click a term then click a definition to match.
How many corners does a triangle have?
Which shape is perfectly round with no corners?
Shape Hunt Around Your Home
Walk around your home with a grown-up and become a shape detective. Find one circle, one square, one triangle, and one rectangle. Draw each thing you found on paper and label it with the shape name. Count the corners of each and write the number next to it. Show your shape hunt to someone and tell them where you found each one.
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