In this video I’m sharing five simple, low-prep ways to teach your toddler (or preschooler) shapes, plus a bonus activity at the end. Most of what I use is just basic craft paper or card cut into shapes (I used a square, circle, triangle, rectangle and even a hexagon). If you know you’ll reuse them a lot, you can laminate them, but you don’t have to. I also mention a little tweak that really helps when you’re teaching shapes for the first time: use the same colour paper so your child only has one variable to focus on (the shape), rather than getting distracted by colour changes. I start with simple matching, then turn it into a “runny game” by sticking shapes around the room and shouting “run to the triangle!” (this is brilliant for gross motor kids who love to race). We also use a puppet because, honestly, puppets have a lot of power in our house—my son finds it hilarious when the puppet “eats” the shapes and then “burps” them back. Then I show a pots-and-pans shape hunt (great for younger toddlers), and a supervised balloon-popping game where you draw shapes on balloons and pop the one they find. Finally, my bonus idea is a car “racetrack” shape inspired by a Five Minute Mum activity—more like an invitation to play than a test, which I really love for building confidence.