Much has already been said about the importance of developing a child’s fine motor skills. It is for this purpose that children are asked to sculpt from plasticine, sand, string rings onto a pyramid, and make crafts from natural materials: leaves, chestnuts, pine cones, acorns, etc. However, there is another equally interesting and useful activity for children - appliqué from geometric shapes , during which the child will not only develop precise finger movements, but will also become familiar with geometric shapes and their names.
Preparing the workplace and materials
To make an applique, as, in fact, for many other types of activities, the child needs to prepare a comfortable place - a table and a chair that correspond to his height. In addition, it is important that the work surface is well lit. Particular attention should be paid to the materials themselves with which the child will make a paper applique. Geometric shapes, a simple pencil, a ruler, glue, scissors, cardboard, standard sheets and a set of colored paper - this is the main list of tools and materials needed for exciting creativity.
Geometric shapes can be bought at a stationery store in the form of plastic templates, or you can draw them on cardboard, cut them out and give them to your child. If the child is already a little older, you can teach him to draw the figures necessary for the appliqué on his own, using a pencil, ruler and compass. In addition, there are wide rulers with many different geometric shapes in small sizes.
The simplest applications of geometric shapes
At first, until the child learns to see geometric shapes around him, an adult will need to be next to him and help him distinguish them, and then, thanks to the baby’s imagination, each of his new applications of geometric shapes will be more and more interesting.
One of the simplest crafts is a house. To make it you need rectangles, squares and triangles. All these figures can be seen quite easily if you look at an ordinary house, so it will not be difficult for a child to make what he saw in reality out of paper. A drawing by an adult, depicting a house, can help a child in this situation. At the beginning of work, you should not use complex shapes such as trapezoids or hexagons - everything should be as simple as possible.
From the basic elements, over time, the child will be able to learn to make complex compositions, for example, “Summer Meadow” or “Winter Day”.
Flowers made from geometric shapes
Looking at flowers with a disinterested eye, it is impossible to visually isolate strict elements. However, if you show a little imagination, it turns out that it is quite possible to make an applique of geometric shapes in the form of a flower. The simplest composition can be chamomile. To understand what shapes a daisy consists of, just remember any children's drawing. Each petal has the shape of an oval, although very elongated.
So, to make such a flower you will need one circle - this will be the middle of the flower, and seven narrowed ovals - the petals. For greater realism, the ovals can be glued to the back side of the core, and the flower can be attached to the cardboard only in the center - then the petals will be raised, like those of a real flower. You can use a narrow and long green rectangle as a stem, and the leaves can be made from the same ovals as the petals. The flower can be planted in the ground using a wide rectangle of black or green color, or it can be planted in a pot, which can be a trapezoid turned upside down.
How to make a little animal from simple shapes
Animals made from geometric shapes are no less interesting. The applique can be made of colored or white elements. However, it is worth keeping in mind that in the first case the craft looks more realistic. Although if you plan to make an applique in the shape of a bunny, then white paper is perfect. True, then it is better that the cardboard to which all parts of the animal’s body will be glued is colored.
By the way, to make a sitting hare you only need circles of different diameters, as well as half circles and two triangles. You can use a large circle as the body of the bunny, the heads - the same figure of a smaller diameter, the front (upper) legs - small circles, and the back (lower) legs - half of a large circle. For the ears you will also need half a circle, and for the nose and tail - two small circles. You can make eyes from triangles, and you can also give the bunny a carrot in his paws - an orange triangle. If you show a little patience, then soon a variety of animals from geometric shapes will come to life under children's hands. Application will become your baby's favorite pastime.
Vehicles made from geometric shapes
Boys will also want to make some applique out of geometric shapes. And since they love to play with various cars, buses, ships and other vehicles, then, most likely, they will prefer to make their creation in the form of these objects. If you look closely at any type of transport, you can see clear lines characteristic of geometric shapes.
So, for example, to make a train you will need circles of different diameters, half circles, rectangles and triangles. It is worth noting that the locomotive and carriages can be made from both rectangles and triangles - it all depends on the wishes of the child. As for the wheels, the child, watching the train, will be able to see their clear round shape, and when making an appliqué, he will use exactly this geometric figure, at least if he wants to get a realistic picture. If children like bright objects, then they should try a combination of different colors and shapes, which will make the applique of geometric shapes more interesting.
Application on the theme “Summer”
The application can be presented not only as individual elements, but also as an entire composition. On one sheet of paper you can depict summer using various creatures and natural phenomena made from ovals, circles, and rectangles. So, wanting to convey the beauty of summer, a child can use the knowledge that he received when he was just getting acquainted with such a concept as appliqué from geometric shapes. He may still have the patterns, but if not, then most likely he will need the help of an adult.
In order to create an application on the theme “Summer”, the child will need to imagine a summer meadow, park or river bank. Children's imagination is very well developed, so at this stage there should be no problems. Mandatory attributes of summer are flowers, green grass, sun and butterflies - and all this can be made from geometric shapes.
Application on the theme “Winter”
No less favorite time of year for children is winter: sledding downhill, snowball fights, and, of course, building a snowman. So why not transport yourself to a winter day and recreate it on paper by making a snowman applique. Moreover, this figure is very easy to make. All you need are three circles of different diameters cut out of white paper, two smaller circles for the hands, an orange triangle for the nose, two brown or gray rectangles for the hat and small black circles for the buttons, eyes and mouth.
You can place a Christmas tree next to the snowman - then the applique of geometric shapes will be presented in the form of a whole composition. To make a Christmas tree, you will need to cut out three triangles of different sizes from green paper and one narrow rectangle from brown paper. First, you need to glue a brown rectangle at the bottom of the sheet, replacing the trunk, then slightly overlapping it, glue the largest triangle, placing it with its base down, at its top place the middle one, and even higher - the smallest one. The tree is ready!
Application of a man from geometric shapes
Not only animals, plants and various objects can be assembled from the simplest elements. An applique of a person made from geometric shapes can be no less successful. Of course, such a person will look quite sketchy, but nothing more is required from the application.
So, as a human body you can use a rectangle, an oval or two triangles folded at the tops, for the head - a circle, for arms and legs - rectangles. To make the image more realistic, you can also make your fingers - narrow rectangles, and put your feet in shoes - two rectangles, folded in the form of a large English letter “L”. You can also “dress” the little man - this will not be difficult for children to do, especially for girls who are used to playing with dolls.
In conclusion, it is worth saying that a child must be taught to see the beauty and complexity of the world around him, to be able to analyze, and then he will be able to make a wide variety of applications from geometric shapes, because from them you can create almost any image, be it an object or a creature.
Can you make animals from geometric shapes?
Never tried it?
Then it’s worth looking at the pictures on the website, where various animals are made from geometric shapes. Offer these drawings to your children: they will surely appreciate their originality.
Geometric world
In everything that surrounds us, we can find elements of geometry.
A table can be round or square, our houses are parallelepipeds, etc. Haven't you watched how artists paint? They first outline the contours of an object with a base of geometric shapes, and only then draw smooth lines around them. They see the world as geometric, and smooth or soft lines only hide the real essence of things.
In pedagogy for preschool children, there is even a whole direction where children are taught to see pure geometric shapes in everything. This is Mary's pedagogy. She believed that pure geometric shapes contributed to children's better development and orientation in the world. This is not to say that this system is ideal, but it has found its supporters.
Now let's remember the works of artists of the era of modernism and postmodernism. Pictures appear before your eyes, filled with squares, triangles, circles, trapezoids and all kinds of shapes, painted in different colors. This is how the painters of the new era saw the world, and there had to be a basis for this. They tried to convey this world untouched by human hands. Their desire was to show that we all and all objects around us are composed of geometric shapes. Our whole world, if you look closely, is solid geometry.
How to use pictures when working with children
It is quite clear that the question arises: artists are one thing, but why do children need such a vision of the world?
Of course, pictures with animals made from geometric shapes do not aim to impose on the child an extraordinary vision of the world. However, why not show that such an interpretation of everything that surrounds us is possible.
Using the pictures you can learn the names of geometric shapes in an interesting and exciting way. From simple demonstration and repetition, the child quickly gets tired and begins to refuse classes, even if they are taught by the mother at home. It’s another matter if figures need to be found in animals. This is where genuine curiosity awakens.
When you have fully explored with your child the names of the shapes and their appearance, ask the child to show his vision of the world. Let us take an animal or any object as an example.
Ask: what geometric figure does it resemble?
Such exercises:
- - develop observation skills;
- — improve logical and spatial thinking;
- - contribute to the vision of an object hidden behind the outer shell.
The baby learns to see and observe what others cannot or do not know how to see. Isn't this the education of an artist and a creative person?
Or you can play the reverse game. Imagine that you are abstract artists. Have one of you draw something consisting of geometric shapes, and the other try to guess what is drawn. Postmodernist painters often encrypted their drawings on a canvas filled with squares, rectangles, trapezoids... the same puzzles were previously offered in children's magazines.
You can create such a puzzle yourself: you just need a little imagination and a look at the world through the prism of geometry.
Click on the picture to download this workbook with tasks for children for free. 
Examples of notebook pages with applications for children from 1 to 3 years old. 
Applications for children from 4 to 7 years old. Click on the picture to download this book. This geometric applique not only develops the child’s creative abilities, but also develops the preschooler’s mathematical abilities.
An interesting plot of the picture helps to describe your work (develops imagination), study geometric shapes and their colors. In addition, appliqué activities help the baby develop fine motor skills.
To make an application you need to prepare:
Paper (cardboard) for printing and preparing templates;
Double sided tape;
Volumetric double-sided tape;
Plastic eyes (you can cut out eyes - circles from cardboard);
Brown threads for knitting;
Pompom for the nose (can be replaced with a button);
Scissors.
Step-by-step process for making a volumetric applique with a dog
1. Prepare templates
2. Cut out the parts to make the puppy
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3. Glue a wide strip of tape onto the image of sand.
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Remove the protective film.
We glue the bulk cattle onto squares numbered 1, 2, 3. We do not remove the protection from the tape.
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4. Gently pour sand onto a strip of tape and shake off excess sand.
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5. Remove the protection from the voluminous tape, stick on them a crush figure - a ball and semicircle figures - legs.
The photo shows the volume.
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6. Glue the tail using bulk tape.
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7. Glue the ears using bulk tape
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8. Glue the head using bulk tape.
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9. Take two rectangles and glue strips of tape on the back side.
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10. Remove the protection from the tape and wind the yarn onto the rectangles.
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In the end we get it.
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11. Glue a large rectangle using bulk tape.
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12. Glue a small rectangle using bulk tape.
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13. Glue the plastic eyes with glue.
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14. Glue a pompom onto the nose.
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15. Our volumetric applique is ready.
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This applique will decorate your interior and can be given as a gift. Using the plot of the applique, you can compose various interesting stories.
If you want to know what appliqués from geometric shapes are and want to teach children this type of art, then this article is for you.
The appliqués that children make are sometimes very simple and naive, but they help children develop their cutting, design and imagination skills. Children also absolutely love gluing colored shapes onto the background.
First, children glue figures that adults cut out onto the background. But time does not stand still - children grow. And over time, children learn to cut, glue and create themselves. And then the child should be taught the most interesting types of applications.
By making geometric applications, the child develops his eye and spatial thinking, learns to combine colors and becomes familiar with geometric shapes.
The simplest applique of geometric shapes can be considered making patterns on a long strip of paper. Then you can move on to designing various objects, vehicles, animals, plants. Thanks to this, the child develops creative abilities.
For 1st grade students
Children already more or less own scissors when they enter 1st grade. In this case, templates will become indispensable assistants. With their help, children will be able to cut out the necessary parts from paper, and it will be easier for them to create and learn to make appliqués. Here are templates for several simple geometric applications:
Here are some examples of work for 1st grade children and their diagrams:
Application “House in the Village”:
It seems to be nothing complicated, no complicated details. It's simple. A house, sunshine, a tree, but there is something extraordinary in this picture. In addition, the child will make this picture even more unique, because it will be the embodiment of his imagination and thinking.
Application “Cat and kitten”:
To make an applique of this cat with a kitten, a child will need to cut out a wide variety of shapes and put them together to create a complete image to their liking.
Tangram is an ancient oriental puzzle made from figures obtained by cutting a square into 7 parts in a special way: 2 large triangles, one medium one, 2 small triangles, a square and a parallelogram. As a result of folding these parts together, flat figures are obtained, the contours of which resemble all kinds of objects, from humans, animals to tools and household items. These types of puzzles are often called "geometric puzzles", "cardboard puzzles" or "cut puzzles".
With a tangram, a child will learn to analyze images, identify geometric shapes in them, learn to visually break an entire object into parts, and vice versa - to compose a given model from elements, and most importantly - to think logically.
How to make a tangram
A tangram can be made from cardboard or paper by printing a template and cutting along the lines. You can download and print the tangram square diagram by clicking on the picture and selecting “print” or “save image as...”.
It is possible without a template. We draw a diagonal in the square - we get 2 triangles. We cut one of them in half into 2 small triangles. Mark the middle on each side of the second large triangle. We cut off the middle triangle and other shapes using these marks. There are other options for how to draw a tangram, but when you cut it into pieces, they will be absolutely the same.
A more practical and durable tangram can be cut from a rigid office folder or a plastic DVD box. You can complicate your task a little by cutting out a tangram from pieces of different felt, stitching them along the edges, or even from plywood or wood.
How to play tangram
Each piece of the game must be made up of seven tangram parts, and they must not overlap.
The easiest option for preschool children 4-5 years old is to assemble figures according to the diagrams (answers) laid out into elements, like a mosaic. A little practice, and the child will learn to make figures according to the pattern-contour and even come up with his own figures according to the same principle.
Level one - download and print the color tangram, this will make it easier to navigate the diagram.
Schemes and figures of the tangram game
Recently, tangrams have been often used by designers. The most successful use of tangram is perhaps as furniture. There are tangram tables, transformable upholstered furniture, and cabinet furniture. All furniture built on the tangram principle is quite comfortable and functional. It can change depending on the mood and desire of the owner. How many different options and combinations can be made from triangular, square and quadrangular shelves. When purchasing such furniture, along with instructions, the buyer is given several sheets with pictures on different topics that can be folded from these shelves.In the living room you can hang shelves in the shape of people, in the nursery you can put cats, hares and birds from the same shelves, and in the dining room or library - the drawing can be on a construction theme - houses, castles, temples.
Here is such a multifunctional tangram.