Description

What our Shapes: Star lesson plan includes

Lesson Objectives and Overview: Shapes: Star teaches young learners about a very common shape. By the end of the lesson, students will be able to recognize a star and that it has five points and corners. This lesson is for students in preschool.

GLOW-IN-THE-DARK STARS ACTIVITY

For this lesson, students will create artworks involving star shapes. Give each student some pre-cut stars cut from sturdy paper or cardboard. Tell them they are going to make shiny, glow-in-the-dark stars. Pass out glow-in-the-dark paint. Demonstrate how to apply the right amount of paint to the star shapes. Assist students with painting their stars as needed. To prevent the stars from moving around while painting, you can tape the backs down to a piece of scrap paper. Once dry, turn off the light so students can see their stars glow. NOTE: Glow-in-the-dark paint works best when it has been “charged.” Before turning off the lights, shine a light directly on the paint. Then turn off the lights and see the stars shine.

After learning all 8 shapes (square, rectangle, circle, triangle, oval, diamond, star, and heart), this unit will conclude with a culminating story activity. See Additional Resources from the
Shapes: Heart lesson plan for the story and shapes. You may also draw your own shapes for the activity.

Options and Extensions

There are several of additional options you could add to the lesson. Eat star-shaped snacks. Use a star-shaped cookie cutter to create stars from cheese, watermelon, sandwiches, or cookies. Use sidewalk chalk to draw large stars outside or use tape to tape stars on the floor. Jump to each one and walk the perimeter. For a sensory experience, have students draw stars in sand or shaving cream. Provide students with playdough and pipe cleaners and challenge them to create stars from the materials.

Grab a bag of shape buttons and have students sort each shape. Use buttons to make star bracelets using pipe cleaners. Sing the “Hokey Pokey” song. Give each child a shape to hold as they sing. Replace the body parts in the song with shapes (e.g., “You put the star in, you take the star out…”). For show and tell, ask children to find objects at home that are stars to bring to class. Share and discuss the items as a group.

As an extension to the lesson, read Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star by Jane Taylor, How to Catch a Star by Oliver Jeffers, and Shape Space by Cathryn Falwell.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

Our preschool lessons include additional resources that you can use throughout the lesson. They are provided to give you as much content as possible to complete the lesson without having to find sources on their own. For instance, if the lesson requires you to show students pictures, you can use the ones in the additional resources.

Preschool Philosophy

Our preschool curriculum is thoughtfully designed by professional teachers to nurture curiosity, build foundational skills, and prepare young learners for kindergarten and beyond. Each preschool lesson plan offers age-appropriate activities to promote early literacy, math readiness, creativity, and social-emotional growth.

At the preschool level, children are developing rapidly—socially, emotionally, physically, and academically. The goal of our lesson plans for preschool is to provide structured yet engaging learning experiences that spark imagination, encourage problem-solving, and foster a lifelong love of learning.

CURRICULUM FOCUS

Our curriculum focuses on key objectives such as:

• Building early literacy and language skills through stories, songs, and interactive activities.
• Developing number sense, shapes, colors, and patterns with hands-on lessons.
• Encouraging creativity and self-expression through art, play, and music.
• Supporting social-emotional development, cooperation, and confidence.
• Strengthening fine and gross motor skills through active learning.