Young toddlers are constantly building their language skills and learning to recognize the names of things in their environment. A shape-naming game is a great outdoor activity to help toddlers learn to say the names of shapes. Young toddlers mimic sounds, and learn by repeating what they hear, according to Sarah Williamson, author of "Fun With My 5 Senses." It helps to point to different shapes outside and name the shape, sounding it out carefully, and then ask the toddlers to repeat the name.
Shape painting is a wonderful outdoor activity for older toddlers. The outdoors provides visual clues to help toddlers identify each shape. You will need coloring activity sheets with outdoor shapes and some crayons. Each shape should be basic, such as a triangle-shaped tree, a round sun or a square mailbox. Number each shape and ask the toddlers to name and identify that shape in their environment. Older toddlers quickly recognize outdoor shapes, such as the sun being a circle.
Shape seeking is a fun outdoor game similar to hide and seek. In this activity, you will need to use construction paper to cut out squares, triangles, circles and rectangles. Tape the construction paper shapes to the corresponding outdoor shapes while the toddlers cover their eyes. Once you're done, call out a shape and have the toddlers find it. The first one to return with the proper shape is allowed to call out the next shape.
A fun challenge for toddlers is to pick out a single shape and determine how many of that particular shape they recognize. For example, you can choose a circle and ask the toddlers how many circles they see around them. This is great for older toddlers because it helps build critical-thinking skills. The toddlers will not only find the most obvious circles, they will learn to recognize hidden shapes within the environment.