Setting Up the Classroom: Shapes and Colors Theme

Inside: We’ve set up our toddler and preschool classroom this week for the shapes and colors theme. We had fun with hands-on activities that included a shape hunt and stamping with spools!

Shapes and colors are part of our toddler and preschool day throughout the school year. However, we decided to kick off the year with a shapes and colors theme as an introduction.

Each of our learning centers provided an invitation for play and exploration, including our shape and color window blocks, stamping chunky shape sponges at the easel, and hopping in and out of agility hoops.

👉 Note: I’ve provided free printable shapes and colors activities for you to download. Scroll down to find the links!

Setting up the Classroom for the Shapes and Colors Theme

Science and Exploration

I love window blocks. Our first set were the rainbow blocks. We then found some with colored sand. And now we also have some with shimmering water.

We placed these at our science and exploration table right next to a window so the children could hold them up to the light.

Light Table

Exploring color at the light table is always fun! We had some plastic jars that had colored masking tape wrapped around them. I chose pom poms that were the same colors, along with color paddles. I also laminated the color sorting printable that you can find towards the end of this post.

Sensory Bin

I filled our sensory bin with red dyed rice and macaroni that was leftover from a previous sensory bin. I pulled the basic shapes from our sponge painting shape set and added them to the bin.

Blocks

I am always happy to include our wooden rainbow stacker in our block area. It’s the most beautiful natural toy that our entire preschool shares.

We also added a variety of Duplos to our train table for some fun building.

Table Activities

During our centers time we always have a table that has a variety of matching and sorting activities, fit-togethers, simple alphabet and math activities, fine motor strengthening activities, and other activities that build a variety of skills.

This shape matching activity is a printable I put together for our 2 and 3 year olds. If you’d like a copy of it, scroll down to get the link.

Easel

When you’ve worked at the same preschool for 20 years, you find stuff hidden in the storage closet and you have no idea how they got there. Seriously. Stuff just shows up! I think my fellow teachers add to the collection, or parents graciously donate stuff to us.

So, I found these and just knew our 2 and 3 year olds would love them.

(And I cannot yet find them online to share a link.)

Art

Since our shape this month is the circle, and our color is red, I decided to do an activity that used red paint and paper tubes.

You can read more about it here: Circle Art with Paper Tubes

Another circle painting activity involved spools.

You can read about it here: How to Put Together a Process Art Activity Using Spools

Play Dough

I colored our homemade playdough red for this month’s color and included chunky shape stamps and rolling pins.

You can find similar shape stamps here.

Large Motor

I cut felt into circles and hid them around the room, inviting the children to go on a circle hunt.

You can read more about it here: Get Moving on a Circle Hunt

Outdoors, we moved our bodies while hopping in and out of agility rings.

Writing Table

We traced shapes with our big shape stencils. (Someone donated these to our preschool so I am not sure where they were purchased, but they are wonderful!)

Dramatic Play

We used some of our sorting bowls to sort food by color.

Favorite books for the colors and shapes theme:

Free printables for your shapes and colors theme:

More classroom theme ideas:

Click on photos to see more.

 

Planning your themes for the year? We’ve done the work for you!

I am so excited to be a co-author in each of these 20 themed unit lesson plans!

20 lesson plan units – each with its own theme.

In each unit you will get:

24 preschool learning activities for your spring theme, including literacy, math, science, art, fine motor, and more! A great resource for teachers and homeschoolers.

24 preschool learning activities that cover:

Literacy
Math
Science
Fine Motor
Sensory
Gross Motor
Art
Social Studies
Music
Circle Time
Social/Emotional