![]() While building the rectangle A made it lean to one side. I gave her a high five and she was thrilled she came up with this discovery on her own. “The rectangle is LONGER!” A shouted when she discovered the difference. I asked her in each picture which was bigger – the square or the rectangle? After realizing her mistake, A again used a pretzel stick to measure the sides of the square and rectangle. I grabbed a piece of chalk and drew a square house with a rectangle door on it and a rectangle skyscraper with small square windows. “A rectangle is bigger than a square,” A said after a moment of thinking. “What is the difference between a square and a rectangle?” I asked A. ![]() When we got to the square and rectangle, we talked again about side lengths. We continued counting sides and vertices and building more 2D shapes. She thought for a moment, then bit off a piece of pretzel and proceeded to build the isosceles triangle. “How should we build the isosceles triangle if it has 2 long sides and 1 short one?” I asked A. These were new terms for A and I was not expecting her to memorize them – I just wanted her to notice that not all triangles are the same. That one is called an isosceles triangle.” “The other has two sides that are the same and one shorter side. “Yes, this one has equal sides and is called an equilateral triangle,” I explained. She noticed the second triangle had longer sides but the top triangle had sides that were the same. When A replied they were the same I had her use a pretzel to measure each of the sides. Are they the same or different?” I asked. Then, she wrote the totals on the blank lines. She was pretty disappointed when I said, “No.” I placed the triangle on top of the one I’d drawn with marker and asked her to count the sides and vertices again. “Can I eat it now?” she asked as soon as she finished building her first triangle. I had toothpicks on hand just in case the thicker pretzels were too troublesome, but A didn’t want to swap them. I demonstrated how she could build the shapes using the marshmallows and pretzels.Ī couldn’t wait to start building and even though the pretzels were a little tricky to manipulate, she kept at it. “And here is a bowl of sides,” I continued, passing her the pretzels. “Ok, here is a bowl of vertices,” I explained, handing her the bowl of marshmallows. ![]() I showed her how to label the vertices with a red dot and helped her label the vertices on the rest of the shapes. Next, I explained that the spot where 2 sides meet to make a corner is called a vertex. “Yes! And can you point to and count the sides of this triangle?” I asked pointing to the first triangle. “Triangle, triangle, square, rectangle,” A easily replied. “Can you tell me the name of these shapes?” I asked as I pointed to each one. Then, I called a very eager A over the play. ![]() I labeled each one with its name then left a spaces for A to write out how many sides and vertices each one had. That’s why I decided to start with the simplest 2D shapes she could build: the triangle, square and rectangle. Since my daughter’s knowledge of geometry at this point consists of basic shape names, I wanted to help her look more closely at shapes to notice how they are built how many sides and vertices they have, whether they have parallel lines or perpendicular ones, and how long their sides are. I quickly drew four 2D shapeson a sheet of card stock and labeled each one (equilateral triangle, isosceles triangle, square and rectangle). Pretzel sticks (toothpicks are easier to build with so grab them if you have some on hand).To prep, I gathered together a few simple supplies: Looking for more fun with shapes!? Head on over to our shop and grab our Pattern Block Mats your kids will love! It’s a win-win!įor a printable version of this activity, hop over and grab our popular toothpick challenge cards! Kids love having the chance to build 2D shapes with food and grown ups love watching children practice important math skills. Marshmallow geometry is a fun way to teach the names and characteristics of 2D shapes including triangles, rectangles and squares.
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