North Carolina Early Learning and Development Progressions: Birth to Five

Domain: NC Foundations for Early Learning: Cognitive Development (CD)

Subdomain: Mathematical Thinking and Expression

Goal: Children identify and use common shapes and concepts about position during play and other activities.

Skill Progression: Recognizes geometric shapes

Age: 15-18 Months

You may choose a different domain, go back, or click on a skill below for more information.

Places square in a puzzle

Situations for Observation of Skill

Provide a simple shape puzzle.

Elicitation Strategy

Let the child dump out the pieces. The child may put pieces in spontaneously. If not, hand the child the circle, then the square shape.

Behavior Observed

The child will be able to place the circle and square.

Routines-based Intervention (Embedded Instruction)

Most children like puzzles. Parents can find inexpensive shape puzzles at dollar stores or garage sales. Encourage early childhood educators and parents to support the child by taking turns with puzzle pieces. The social aspect of the play will motivate the child to try.

 North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, 2015

©2015 by the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/.