Build Fine Motor Skills with this Toddler Shape Art Activity

Last Updated on May 22, 2021 by Sheryl Cooper

Inside: If you are looking for easy, you will love this toddler shape art activity. It’s a great way to work on shape recognition, plus you can use toys you already own!

During our shapes and colors theme, I wanted an art activity that would be open-ended but also give our toddlers a chance to recognizing shapes while painting.

I’m sure I’m not alone here, but I love being able to use materials we already own.

A lot of toddler and preschool toys are in different shapes, so finding some to use with an art activity can really be quite easy.

When I found the perfect toy, I knew just what kind of toddler shapes art activity we would do.

And it’s super easy!

Build Fine Motor Skills with this Toddler Shape Art Activity

Recently I purchased some jumbo nuts and bolts that are suitable for toddlers. (I am always looking for quality products that the younger crowd can safely use!)

As I was setting them on a tray for our shapes and colors theme, it dawned on me that these would be perfect to stamp into paint!

I could just picture their small hands wrapping around the base, dipping them into paint, and then onto paper. A great fine motor activity!

How to set up this toddler shapes activity:

I used the tops from our paint containers, turning them upside down and filling with different colors of paint.

I placed one bolt in each container, set it on a tray, and provided large pieces of paper.

I set this activity up after snack, so that as the children finished eating, they could come over and stamp shapes.

And, since the children pretty much finish at different times, there isn’t a large crowd at this small table.

The bonus? It makes that transition from snack to play much easier.

Related: Handling Toddler Transitions in the Classroom

Another reason I love these types of activities?

I don’t have to be right there to show them how everything works.

This gives me time to assist a child in another area of the classroom for a moment. (Although I do stay pretty close to this table because, well, they are 2 and this is paint. And we are still working on not walking away with the painted object in hand.)

Toddlers love to try something, move on to something else, and then return.

Perhaps several times.

This is a photo of a brief moment when no one was at the table:

But only seconds later a few more children showed up and started stamping.

And see how the colors are mixing on the paper?

This is why I love to use at least 2 colors for these types of activities.

It’s a great way to show that they made a new color while stamping.

Once you are finished, let them dry and either display or send home.

Don’t forget to read some shape books before and after this activity!

Extend this shape activity with these ideas:

Art: Rainbow Collage with Shapes

Art: Circle Art with Paper Tubes

Art: Stamping Circles with Spools

Art: Stamping Squares

Playdough: Triangles and Playdough

Circle Time: Going on a Circle Hunt

Sensory Bin: The Shapes of Things

Table Activity: Shapes Match and Clip Cards (Free Printable)

Table Activity: Shapes Matching Cards  (Free Printable)

Get a week’s worth (or more!) of shapes activities here:

A Week’s Worth of Shape Recognition Activities