Shape Touch
Shape Touch 1 and 2 are simple yet challenging and are appropriate for all skill levels, but they are especially helpful in young people first learning language concepts. This activity can be easily loaded using the Metronome. These activities simulate reading and build low-level reading skills, visual motor integration (VMI), visual memory, and visual search skills.
Material: Download and print the files attached. Start with Shape Touch 1, then move on to Shape Touch 2 when Shape Touch 1 has been mastered.
Procedure:
- Follow the directions provided on the downloadable files.
- The basic flow goes like this: The child points to the shapes one-by-one using the dominant-hand index finger. As each shape is touched, it is named. So, referring to the first picture above, the child would say ‘square, circle, triangle, square, circle, triangle’ then move to the next line.
- Next, have them identify only circles, or squares, or triangles.
- Next, have them identify pairs of shapes: squares and circles, circles and triangles, triangles and squares.
- Shape Touch 2 is similar to Shape Touch 1, but the child must now work with pairs of shapes. See the figure below. The child would, for example, touch all the ‘triangle/square’ pairs saying ‘triangle square’, then all the ‘square/triangle’ pairs, etc. Later, select two sets of shapes to do, perhaps ‘square triangle’ and ‘circle square’, ignoring the other pairs.
Loading:
- Do the activity at ever increasing speed using the Metronome as the guide. Start at a reasonable pace so that it is quite easy for the child to succeed, then speed it up. The child would have to identify the figures one per beat.
- Do the exercise using the non-dominant hand as guide.
- Do the activity using the other fingers, that is other than the index.