The Shape of Things: The Origin of Young Children’s Knowledge of the Names and Properties of Geometric Forms

Abstract

shapes (shapes within a larger picture, e.g., triangular slices of pizza). At 25 months, children know very few names, including those for canonical shapes. By 30 months, however, children have acquired more shape names, and are beginning to apply them to some of the less typical instances of the shapes. Possible mechanisms driving this initial development of shape knowledge and implications of that development for school readiness are explored.