Have fun teaching shapes

Shape Songs for Kids - PreKinders

By Karen Cox | Affiliate Disclosure | Filed Under: Shapes

Here are some songs to get your kids singing and moving while learning about shapes.

This is a curated list of songs from YouTube.

Shapes, by Jack Hartmann

Shapes Song, by The Kiboomers

Shapes Song, by The Learning Station

Shapes Song: Square, Diamond, Star, Rectangle, by The Kiboomers

Shapes Song: Circle, Oval, Triangle, Heart, Octagon, by The Kiboomers

The Shape Song #1, by Super Simple Songs

The Shape Song #2, by Super Simple Songs

Secret Agent Shapes, by Harry Kindergarten

Shape Name Game, by Have Fun Teaching

The Square Song, by Jack Hartmann

I’m a Circle, by Jack Hartmann

Circle Song, by Heidi Songs

The Shape Song Book, by Heidi Songs

Octagon Song, by Heidi Songs

Hexagon Song, by Heidi Songs

Squares, by Story Bots

That’s a Rectangle, by Story Bots

Circles, by Story Bots

Triangles, by Story Bots

Rhombus, by Story Bots

Tagged With: Pre-K, Preschool, Preschool Songs

About Karen Cox

Karen is the founder of PreKinders.com. She also works as a full-time Pre-K teacher in Georgia. Read more...

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28 Songs and Poems to Teach Preschool Kids about Basic Shapes

Teaching shapes and colors are fundamental for early childhood education.  It is the foundation for all other learning and is essential for the brain development of toddlers.   The visual information helps them identify the basic shapes within more compound shapes.  It also helps them differentiate between letters, like B and D, when learning the alphabet.  It initiates the understanding of shapes as symbols for the beginning of mathematical concepts like addition and subtraction.  It also introduces geographical and navigation skills, such as road signs and recognition of mountains, houses and shapes of faces.  Using shapes to teach symmetry also helps a child understand balance, which aids them in developing motor skills.

Adding music and movement skills to learning establishes many school-ready skills including intellectual, social-emotional, language, motor and literacy.  Exposing young children to music helps them learn to distinguish sounds and meanings of words as well as initiating the body and mind working together.

Once children identify the basic shapes, they will begin to recognize those shapes in everyday objects and structures.  Then, they will develop problem-solving skills as they explore the complexities of 2D and 3D shapes.

We've compiled a list of resources to help you teach shapes to your Preschooler.  Use the videos, poems and familiar tunes to make playtime educational!

Uses fun and upbeat music, shows the basic shapes and asks the child to repeat the name, so they have visual and auditory cues for each chape.

Learn more: Have Fun Teaching

Uses a brightly colored choo-choo train to teach the shapes.

Learn more: Vidz 4 Kids

Cute animated beavers sing a catchy tune while pointing out brightly colored shapes in everyday objects and structures.

Learn more: Busy Beavers - Kids Learn ABCs 123s & More

Funny little shapes sing and dance and will make the little ones giggle and wiggle.

Learn more: Maji X Herb

Teaches children how to draw the shapes and set to music for some wonderful kinesthetic learning!

Learn more: Barefoot Books

Uses colors and simple shapes to teach the basics.

Learn more: Kids TV 123

A more mellow tune with the same bright visuals.

Learn more: Kids TV 123

8. Learn Shapes for Kids with Blippi

Energetic performers with a hip hop beat to learn the shapes.

Learn more: Blippi - Educational Videos for Kids

Slow, repetitive lines and engaging visuals teach the shapes and then reinforce it by recognizing shapes in everyday objects.

Learn more: Cocomelon - Nursery Rhymes

This fast-moving song shows how to find shapes in familiar things.

Learn more: ABCmouse.com Early Learning Academy

Shapes Song for Kids and Baby:  Sweet train engine introduces the shapes by saying hello to each one as they join his caboose.

Learn more: Kids TV - Nursery Rhymes and Baby Songs

Cindy Circle is my name.
Round and round I play my game.
Start at the top and around the bend.
Up we go, there is no end.

Sammy Square is my name.
My four sides and angles are just the same.
Slide or flip me, I don’t care
I’m always the same, I’m a square!

Ricky Rectangle is my name.
My four angles are the same.
My sides are sometimes short or long.
Hear me sing my happy song.

Trisha Triangle is the name for me.
Tap my sides one, two, three.
Flip me, slide me, you will see...
A kind of triangle I’ll always be!

I am Danny Diamond
I am like a kite
But I'm really just a square
Whose corners are pulled tight

17. Opal Oval

Opal Oval is my name.
The circle and I are not the same.
The circle is round, as round can be.
I am shaped like an egg as you can see

Harry Heart is my name
The shape I make is my fame
With a point on the bottom and two humps on top
When it comes to love I just can't stop!

I am Sarah Star
You can see me twinkle from afar
My five points make me complete
When I'm brightly shining I can't be beat

Olly Octagon is my name
The shape of a stop sign is the same.
My eight sides are fun to count
How about you try it out!
1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8!

I am mamma circle,
round like a pie.

I'm baby triangle,
three sides have I.

I am papa square,
my sides are four.

I am cousin rectangle,
shaped like a door.

I am brother oval,
shaped like a zero.

I am sister diamond,
with a sparkle and glow.

We are the shapes that you all know.
Look for us wherever you go!

Gamification: how the gaming approach helps in education and at work

Transferring the gaming format to education and business can speed up processes, increase efficiency and motivation of employees, customers and students. Understanding how it works

Gamification is the introduction of game forms into a non-game context: work, study and everyday life. Gamification helps to increase sales, retain customers, increase employee loyalty and learn with maximum involvement.

Gamification is used in business, marketing, schools. We tell you where it came from and why it is a new trend in many areas of life.

What is Gamification

Gamification exploits people's natural tendencies to compete, compete, collaborate, and achieve. This technique motivates you to achieve goals and increase productivity. Involvement tools can be levels to be overcome, rewards and rating.

It is worth distinguishing between gamification and game-based learning. The gaming approach is learning within a specific game, and gamification is the application of gaming techniques in everyday processes in order to increase motivation.

The idea of ​​this approach appeared a long time ago, but is gaining popularity only now, as the old systems of motivation gradually stop working. The conventional “carrot and stick” method has ceased to be effective, and companies are looking for other ways to increase engagement.

New generations of employees, students, and customers — millennials and zoomers — have been accustomed to video games since childhood, so the transfer of competitive and rewarding methods fits into their lives more organically.

Principles of gamification

Gamification can simplify everything from learning to business tasks, and increase the enjoyment of doing them. The approach can make any experience feel like a game, resulting in greater engagement. It will also add the joy of completing tasks, comparable to the joy of completing a difficult level of the game.

Motivation. Any game contains motivation for the participants. This is necessary so that the player does not abandon the passage at one of the stages. He must have a specific goal that moves him forward. Gamification naturally inherits this principle. These can be bonuses that you get with each next level. If we talk about marketing, there can be a progressive discount system: the more you buy, the more you save.

Status. During the game, the participant develops his character, growing "levels". The further he goes, the stronger his character becomes. The same principle works in gamification. At work, this may be greater recognition of the team, promotion. In marketing, it is about improving the status of a client: from bronze to platinum.

Reward. In many games, after completing a level, the character is given gold coins, awards and virtual diamonds. The harder the level, the more rewards. Reward is one of the key principles of gamification. Such “carrots” as salaries for employees or positive grades for students gradually stop working. A person knows that if he does his task well or very well, the result will be the same. Additional reward motivates him to act faster, better and gives additional interest. A bonus to salary or exemption from one homework for the best student will help increase motivation. In marketing, this can be accumulative points from each purchase on the card.

Additional principles can be added to the main principles of gamification. Games can include competitive elements, team tasks, stories with an evolving plot. A suitable option should be selected for each specific task.

Benefits of Gamification

Gamification helps create greater engagement in all areas where it is applied. Students take the course with interest if a game element is added to it. Clients do not want to leave the company, which promises them a progressive system of discounts and bonuses. Everyday work tasks are no longer monotonous and boring when there is motivation to complete them. In addition to engagement, gamification helps bring tasks to completion and complete them on time.

Vladislav Kuklev, co-founder of Dizz.TV , says that the gaming approach works in almost any product because it is based on knowledge about the human brain, motivation and reward mechanisms. Therefore, many industries observe game practices and try to apply mechanics from there.

Natalya Koshlyakova, director of IgroN-service , highlights the following advantages of gamification:

• Gamification transfers a person from an adult state to a child, when we all learned by playing.

Less material resistance occurs as the internal censor is removed. Adult psychological resistances and limiting attitudes go away.

• If in a game the participants unite to get a common result, this stimulates high-quality teamwork.
• If a competing element is included in gamification, it adds emotion.

Includes self-affirmation and self-esteem.

• Gamification helps to bring everything to the end: training, workflows, increasing the customer base, and so on.

Of the minuses of gamification:

• Sometimes gamification becomes an end in itself.

Playing for the sake of playing is not effective.

• Additional budgeting required.

It takes a lot of money to develop and include games.

• An incorrectly calculated system leads to a negative result.

For example, in some cases the promotion of competition can have negative consequences.

Vladislav Kuklev adds that the disadvantages of gamification begin when companies are inspired by the gaming industry, but do so without fundamental knowledge of the human psyche. This leads to the emergence of achievement systems, internal rankings that do not work, although they also came from games.

Gamification in business

In this case, it involves replacing boring and complex everyday processes with those that will stimulate and involve employees in their work. For example, you can turn a sales plan into a competition and assign a bonus for the best work. The result of this practice will be motivated employees who perform their tasks with interest, bring new customers and increase the company's income. According to studies, gamification can increase employee engagement by 60% and increase their productivity by 50%.

An additional advantage of games is that they are not as scary to lose as in real life. There is always an opportunity to start over. With business gamification, this feeling translates into work, and even for perfectionists, the level of tension is reduced. Also, from participation in games, the hormone of happiness is produced.

The American company Incentive Solutions, which specializes in gamification in business, offers to create leaderboards based on points for various achievements, connect software that clearly shows all the stages of moving towards the goal with the designation of the levels passed, and create an office platform with the results of work, on which you can put likes like social networks. Many large Russian companies are also implementing gamification into their processes. For example, in addition to the personal rating of employees, Sberbank introduced a team rating, which improved the quality of work in groups.

Gamification in marketing

Gamification in marketing allows you to attract new customers and retain old ones. These are various loyalty cards, bonus programs and contests. The introduction of games in the promotion of goods and services helps to increase the interest of users. The main elements of gamification in marketing are status, new products, and free items.

Status. The longer the client uses the services of the company and pays for the goods, the higher his status becomes. With an increase in status, bonuses are added in the form of discounts, additional services and increased attention from employees. Such a system motivates customers to use the services of their favorite company on an ongoing basis.

New products. Several approaches are included in this category. For example, when releasing a new product, a company may have a phased vote among users, where customers will decide which product should appear on the market. After the release, the product may appear in limited quantities, which will force them to look for it on different shelves. Such a quest will help draw attention to the brand and make a stir.

Free goods. This includes various contests, lotteries and quests, in the final of which there is an opportunity to win a prize from the manufacturer. Such strategies are actively used by manufacturers of carbonated drinks and chips, who hide winning codes under the lid or inside the pack. Contests can also be held online: with prizes for reposts and comments.

Gamification in education

Gamification in education can be used both in school lessons, in additional courses, and in corporate training. According to Natalia Koshlyakova, literally any training can be gamified. Any process, from teaching mathematics at school to teaching staff managerial skills, can turn into a game world or a game legend. There are no limits in learning gamification.

Training can take place both with the use of a system of rewards and ratings, and with the help of third-party programs. For example, children are instilled with a love of reading through smartphones and interactive activities, and VR technologies help to explore the world through traveling around the world right in the classroom. Game designers are involved in the development and concept of such games.

The gamification of education helps to instill an interest in learning in both children and adults. This is a universal method that is suitable for all ages. At the same time, game-based learning copes with its goal: with the right approach, it helps to gain knowledge and learn how to apply it in practice. The only disadvantage of this approach is that it cannot completely replace all education and should occupy only part of the program, especially when it comes to school education. Even the most active children will get tired of constant games in the classroom.

Books on gamification

• Involve and Conquer. Game thinking in the service of business - Kevin Werbach and Dan Hunter. A book from the creators of the world's first gamification course;
• Bishop move. Game assistant in achieving goals "- Tatyana Zadorozhnaya;
• “Gamification in business. How to Break Through the Noise and Capture the Attention of Employees and Customers - Gabe Zickermann and Jocelyn Linder;
• "SuperBetter" - Jane McGonigal Learn to apply game thinking in life.

How to enjoy - Vedomosti

Women are supposed to love to cook delicious food, and men are supposed to love delicious food (cooked by women) pleasure. To choose from, they were offered a long list of three dozen activities. The list was compiled by researchers a long time ago, and it was interesting to see that this year the preferences of Russians have changed in some ways. It did not grow, remained in last place and at a ridiculous level of 1% love for “participation in politics”; it turns out, and those who are engaged in politics on duty do it without pleasure.

The strongest changes were found in the frequency of responses to “work at full capacity”. In 2010 this answer was actually in the top five, now it's in the bottom five. (Other studies also show that the value of labor is slowly declining.) The answer “to get good money” has gone from the first place. It was given by a third of the respondents, now - only a quarter. Apparently, joy of this kind is now less common. Money is mentioned in another answer: they like to “spend money without counting.” There were and are about 15% of people who like it the most. Interestingly, this propensity does not depend much on how much money you have in your pocket. But between young and old, the difference on this basis is 2.5 times. Youth is reckless.

This is a massive survey, because its results say not so much about how people really spend their time, and not even about how they would like to spend it, but about how it is supposed to be done, what to love and what not to, what is the social norm. And the norm gives rather strict instructions to the bearers of different roles. For example, women are supposed to love "cooking tasty food" and men are supposed to love "delicious food" (cooked by women). For women - "to deal with children", for men - "to fish, hunt", etc. Models of behavior for young and old differ in relief. Here is the main thing (more than a third of the answers) that you need to love if you are young: “listen to music”, “spend time with your loved one”, “travel”, “get good money”.

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