It is important to make preschool students aware of the rectangular shapes that surround them in their daily lives. Assemble your preschoolers on the floor and ask them each to identify three rectangles in the room. Children can walk around the classroom and notice rectangles in door frames, windows, shelves and tables. Reassemble and ask students to tell the rest of the class about the rectangles they found. After each object is named, ask the class why it is or isn't a rectangle.
Children need to learn that a rectangle has two pairs of identical sides. One way to help them remember this is to teach them songs about rectangles. For example, teach them "This Is a Rectangle," sung to the tune of "Frere Jacques":
This is a rectangle, this is a rectangle.
How can you tell? How can you tell?
It has two short sides,
And it has two long sides.
It's a rectangle, it's a rectangle.
Look online for other rectangle-themed songs that you can teach your preschoolers. This song was submitted by Jeanne Petty to the Step by Step Child Care website.
You can teach young students about rectangles by having them make crafts. Ask students to make a robot out of rectangles. Provide construction paper of different colors, scissors, glue and markers. Students should cut out a variety of rectangles of different shapes and colors and glue them onto a larger piece of paper in the shape of a robot. Students can name their robots and give them eyes with the marker. You can do this same exercise for animals, houses or just about any other craft idea.
Show and tell can be an effective way to get young children to teach lessons to each other. Ask students to bring in one rectangular object from home that has meaning to them and to present it to the class. Students might bring in a framed picture, a box of their favorite cereal or a letter from a relative. Have students explain their object to the class and show how they know it is rectangular.