You can incorporate spatial concepts into play time. For example, Teaching Expertise, an educational resource, recommends using songs, during which children touch parts of their bodies that correspond to the lyrics. For example, while singing "head, shoulders, knees and toes," children touch these body parts. In this way, they understand how their arms and sense of space relate to their bodies.
Many people are familiar with tests that require test-takers to imagine folding a two-dimensional "cutout" into a three-dimensional object. Use these tests to introduce older children to conceptualizing spatial features. For this activity, draw several two-dimensional shapes on a board, using dotted lines to show where the child should "fold" the shape (using his mind). Instruct the child to find an example of the shape or to say the name of the shape aloud. For example, if you draw a circle on the board, with a curved, dotted line going around the perimeter of the circle, the child should appropriately say "sphere."
You can help children identify and conceptualize shapes using their memories with an activity outlined on Images, a web site designed to improve "measurement and geometry in elementary schools." For this exercise, show the child a simple shape, such as a cube. Remove the shape and instruct the child to draw the shape on a sheet of paper. As the child progresses, show increasingly difficult shapes, such as dodecahedrons (three-dimensional shapes with 12 faces).
Certain games lend themselves to introducing children to spatial concepts. For example, "Operation" encourages spatial dexterity, while games such as basketball, baseball and soccer all use space as a playing field. Additionally, activities such as origami (the art of paper folding) and building blocks encourage children to think about spatial concepts.