Simple Rock Shapes Activity for Kids
A fun activity using sidewalk chalk in your driveway to draw and label shapes; Have your child collect rocks and place them over the drawn shapes; This activity is great for French Immersion or English primary classes
Rock Activity for Preschool and Kindergarten
I may be aging myself in saying this but I remember going through a phase where I would collect rocks all because of Weird Al’s song called, “I Collect Rocks.”
I remember my friend Kelly and I singing the song as we carefully picked out our favourite rocks. if you click the link to the song, it will play 3 min into the video. Disclaimer: if you choose to listen to it please remember that you will never get that 2 minutes of your life back!
My sister always collected the rocks with a ring around it and said they were wishing rocks; I used to like to play hopscotch with mine, throwing them onto my carefully drawn hopscotch grid of numbers and jumping over the square that my prized rock landed on.
It was the 90’s, we spent most of the long summer days outdoors and we were in our glory.
Whenever I can (or feel like it) I like to set up fun activities outside for my kids using rocks, sticks or pretty much anything else from nature. I put it out there as a Reggio-inspired learning invitation and the kids can engage with the activity as much or as little as they want. It’s also fun to glue the rocks on nature crowns.
Sometimes they LOVE whatever activity I set out for them and other times, like this time, the neighbour’s kids are way more interested… and that’s fine too!
how to make Sidewalk chalk rock shapes
Grab some sidewalk chalk and start drawing large shapes on your driveway, alley or sidewalk. Older kids could do this on their own but if you are setting this activity up for a preschooler or kindergartener I would definitely do this part myself.
Have your kids find small rocks in your backyard, neighbourhood or on your school grounds if you are doing this with your students. Then all they need to do is place their rocks over the lines of the shapes. Voilà! C’est tout! If you teach French Immersion like me then you’ll want to snag these free French vocabulary flashcards as well.
How to extend your child’s learning about shapes
Once you have finished the activity the learning doesn’t have to end there! You can talk more about shapes using these prompts:
How many sides does each shape have?
How many rocks did it take to cover each shape?
What is each shape called in English? What about in French? Check out some tips for reading with your kids in French Immersion here.
You covered the perimeter of each shape. Can you cover the area as well?
What other shapes can you add? Stars, hexagons…
What other materials can you use to cover the chalk shapes? Sticks, leaves, flowers…
I’m sure your kids will have a blast with this outdoor activity. What’s not to love about sidewalk chalk? Let me know what they thought in the comments below. Happy playing! If you’d like a math-related chalk activity check out this simple rock shapes activity for kids.
-Breyen
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