This 2D shape hunt is a simple way to turn an ordinary regular neighborhood walk into a super fun math lesson! Learn about 2d shapes including circles, hexagons, rectangles and squares as you sneak in a little exercise.

For more fun shapes activities, check out our Pattern Block Mats in our shop!

2D Shapes: Shape Hunt

Getting Ready

To prep, I grabbed a manila folder {card stock would work well too}, scissors, a box cutter and a pen.

I printed out the shape hunt chart HERE and traced the shapes on the manila folder. Then I cut them out using the box cutter and traced around the outside border with a black Sharpie to make the shapes stand out.

2D Shape Hunt

You can do as many or as few shapes as you want.  I ended up going with twelve — circle, oval, square, isosceles triangle, equilateral triangle, right triangle, rectangle, rhombus {some people call it diamond}, trapezoid, pentagon, hexagon, and octagon.

Going on A 2D Shape Hunt

The next time my son and I went for a walk, I whipped out our shape finder.

“What is that?” he asked me.

“It’s a shape finder,” I told him. “We can use it to identify all the different shapes around us! First, let’s name all of these shapes.”

C already knew most of the shapes with the exception of the trapezoid and the three different types of triangles.  I explained the differences in the three triangles and then we were ready to find some shapes.

Some shapes were easier to find than others — there are a surprising number of circles, rectangles, and triangles all around your typical neighborhood!

2D Shape Hunt

But a large part of the fun was discovering those harder to find shapes.  We were very excited when we realized the lights on our garage were hexagons.

2D Shape Hunt

This is a great way to introduce shapes to your child and a really fun activity to boot! I’ve kept our Shape Finder in my bag because C has wanted to look for shapes everywhere we go.  I even find myself looking for shapes while we drive, especially those harder to find trapezoids and pentagons.

2D Shape Hunt

It’s also been very useful on those rainy days when we’re stuck in the house — there are so many shapes everywhere!

More 2D Shape Activities Kids Will Love

For more fun with 2D shapes, hop over and grab our Pattern Block Mats!

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9 Comments

  1. What a fantastic idea! I always go on a shape hunt with my class (5 year olds) when I first introduce the unit, but I love the cardboard cut out idea! I’d love to include a link to this post on my recent 2D Shapes post 🙂

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