Although most children develop the ability to focus visually and to make fine discriminations in visual images as they grow, some children will take longer to develop these skills and may need some additional help, or additional practice. Good visual perception is an important skill, especially for school success.

Children need good visual perception to discriminate well, copy text accurately, develop visual memory of things observed, develop good eye-hand coordination and integrate visual information while using other senses in order to perform tasks like recognizing the source of a sound, etc.

This activity accessed these pertinent skills. Using plastic candy canes and snowflake ornaments, your little ones weaved items into a plastic garland, which targeted their ability to perceive spatial relations.

Doing so enhanced their visual memory and figure ground distinction. Visual memory was acquired, because, when placing each item into the garland, they were encouraged to recall and apply the spatial orientation of the item in correlation to the garland. Visual figure ground distinction was accessed because your little one focused on important impressions (e.g. the blue of the snowflake, the green of the candy cane) amidst many (e.g. the winding of the garland around the pole).

When you look out your window, you may not be saying it, but your mind is noticing and identifying the green trees, brown rectangle buildings, square windows, and blue sky. Color and shape are ways children observe and categorize what they see. These very recognizable characteristics encourage children to define and organize the diverse world around them.

These first teachings in preschool and kindergarten are basics that your child needs to know before she learns the “other basics” of reading, writing, and math. Understanding color and shape is a tool for learning many skills in all curriculum areas, from math and science to language and reading. For example, when your child learns to discern the similarities and differences between colors and shapes, she is using the same skills she needs to recognize the differences between letters and numerals.

We all use shape as a way of identifying and organizing visual information. Very early, your child begins to make a connection between familiar objects and their shapes. Changes in these can be surprising. For example, at first he may not want to eat round waffles or square cookies. But once he experiences this new shape information (and finds out it is still delicious!), he can easily integrate the new shape into his pantheon of shape knowledge.

When your child explores different shapes, she is using one of the most basic educational processes: the observation of same and different. This concept provides her with a basic process that she will be able to use in observing, comparing and discussing all she sees and encounters.

For this activity, we created Christmas trees using craft sticks, paper, and contact paper. Your child was directed to place pre-cut pieces of paper onto the contact paper, manipulating space to fill in and complete the triangle.