There are lots of fun ways to teach basic concepts like shapes and colors. I have always been drawn to children’s books, especially ones that teach concepts in creative ways. Today I am excited to share a fun children’s book about shapes that twists and turns in unexpected ways, providing kids with tons of laughs while they read it.

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This is a Book of Shapes was written by Kenneth Kraegel. This adorable board book starts out as a simple shape book. Each two page spread uses a simple sentence to identify a basic shape. This continues for a couple of pages, until the format is interrupted by a colorful illustration and a very silly sentence. After returning to the shape identification format, it bounces back to the silly side of things. This continues throughout the book until it culminates in a funny picture using all of the shapes and animals throughout the book. The illustrations throughout the book are hilarious, with ridiculous situations that will surely have kids laughing out loud.

Little Bookworm loved this book. Not only did it have her giggling, but it encouraged a review of shapes. Since she is starting to read sight words and short sentences, this was a perfect one for her to practice reading out loud. We decided to have some fun with this book and the colorful shapes introduced within it.

Related Post: Funny Books for Kids

Shape Pictures

At the end of this story, there is a full two page illustration with all of the shapes from the book being used in funny ways. We used this as inspiration to create our own shape pictures. This is a simple shape activity for kids that can be done in a couple of different ways. Provide kids with blank paper and coloring utensils and encourage them to use basic shapes in interesting ways. Maybe they will use all of the shapes to create a plate of foods in curious ways. Or perhaps they will place shapes in a beach scene or a space scene. Let their imaginations run wild.

Stencils – Provide kids with simple stencils to help them make different shapes.

Shape Blocks – Use shape blocks or tangrams to help them create a shape picture without drawing the shapes. You could also let them trace the outline of the shapes.

Shape Stamps – Use colorful shape stamps or stickers to place shapes throughout their drawings

Emu Craft

The emu on the cover of this book just drew us in at first glance. So we decided to create our own emu paintings. We started with a blank sheet of paper, and drew a long rectangle with a circle on top (for the head and neck). Next, we dipped forks into different colors of paint and used them to create the feathery appearance of the emu on the cover. After the paint dried, we added construction paper circles for eyes and a folded paper triangle for the beak. We had a lot of fun painting with forks, and we loved the silly emus that we got at the end.

Building Shapes

To bring the shapes in the book to life, we decided to get out the play dough! We laid out several colors of playdough and used them to create the shapes in the book. This free printable play dough shape board can be printed out and laminated for kids to create their shapes on. We had a lot of fun using different tools to create our shapes. Give kids a chance to make their shapes with a variety of tools.

Do you have a favorite children’s book about shapes? I bet this will be a new favorite in your house, just like it is in ours! Share this post with another bookworm to spread the love!

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