Pancake Toss – Shape game

One of my favourite days in February (after Valentine’s day of course) is Pancake Day – ok “Shrove Tuesday” but I’m going to call it Pancake Day anyhow, and this week’s #playfulpreschool theme is all about Pancakes. We’re creating, learning and developing skills with activities created around the theme of Pancakes. You can go to the end of the post to find out the other great ideas linked up this week. With the pancake theme, and working on another area of Maths, we’re combining gross motor skills and learning about shapes with a fun Pancake Toss Shape Game that had T running every which way as she learnt.

Kids that are kinaesthetic learners learn best when moving and jumping around. Although this isn’t T’s principle learning style, she really does enjoy learning this way, and it helps especially on these wet and dreary winter days when outdoor time is at a minimum. With the pancake toss shape game, as usual, I’m using resources that we have in the house, and that most families have on hand. Because T had so much fun I’m remaking our pancakes at the moment with felt so that they will last longer, but the paper version here works well too.

Materials needed

Paper
Crayons or Marker Pens
Scissors
Toy or light weight child sized frying pan (our toy kitchen had the perfect sized one).

Learning objectives for Pancake Toss Shape Game

• Work on Catching an object
• Identification of Circle, Oval, Triangle, Rectangle and Square
• Identification of Colours

Preparation

You will need to make your pancakes first: With a piece of paper folded in 2 or 4 (check the size matches your frying pan), draw an irregular pancake shape on the paper and cut out.

I made 10 pancakes in total. On each pancake I drew one of 5 shapes so we had 2 copies of each shape.

Then, choosing 5 different colours, I quickly coloured them in making sure that none of the same shapes were the same colour.

Check out these other ideas for shape games:

• Gingerbread Man Shapes
• 3 Little Pigs Shape Houses
• Pumpkin Shape Game
• Owl Babies Shape Game
• Yarn Shape Tracing Activity

Playing the Pancake Toss Shape Game.

With the pancake face down in the pan, T tossed it into the air. As it fell she tried to catch it.  Believe me, this is tricky but the thicker the paper the easier it is to catch.

When she caught the pancake she flipped it over using her toy kitchen spatula so the shape was visible. After our cooking with kids sausage and bean casserole this week, she knows how to use it well because she repeatedly flipped the sausages in the pan.

With the shape visible she identified which shape it was as well as the colour of the shape, and then we switched it for a different shape.

More Pancake Preschool Creative and Learning Activities

Find out what fun the other #playfulpreschool bloggers have been up to this week with their pancake inspired activities below.