Shapes, Sorted

We can’t get enough of this book, and have borrowed it – and renewed it – more than once so far…

The idea behind Watch This! A book about making shapes is simple, but brilliant. A group of kids in black t-shirts and leggings make different shapes with their bodies, on their own and together. It’s gorgeously executed with colourful, patterned sets by Beci Orpin; the text by Jane Godwin is chatty, playful and real. Importantly, the children are named at the start, and different characters and little jokes shine through. They start by making very familiar shapes – a circle with their arms, a small triangle with fingers, a big triangle lying straight with two other friends – and then the game spins into more ambitious shapes (a wobbly pyramid), invented shapes, and then spotting shapes in the way bodies can be held. In short, it is a super-effective invitation to start forming and naming shapes yourself, a ingeniously designed learning journey. My children, 6 and 4, are equally into it, and it’s appeal would definitely span a much broader age range, stimulating for toddlers familiarising with shapes and learning how to move their bodies, while bigger readers could use it independently, to spark their own game.

(There are more great learning ideas in the Teaching Notes on the publisher’s website here.)

Watch This! A book about making shapes by Jane Godwin, Hilary Walker and Beci Orpin (Scribble)