{"id":2935,"date":"2023-06-01T12:51:09","date_gmt":"2023-06-01T12:51:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.shapels.com\/shapelslearning\/?page_id=2935"},"modified":"2023-06-01T12:55:35","modified_gmt":"2023-06-01T12:55:35","slug":"history-of-shapels","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/www.shapels.com\/shapelslearning\/history-of-shapels\/","title":{"rendered":"History of Shapels"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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One idea and a pencil…
and, an imaginary world was born!<\/h2>\n

At a nursery school where I worked, I introduced the four basic shapes of circle, square, triangle and rectangle to very young children. When I made these shapes into characters and gave each one a \u201cpersonality\u201d, the children remembered which one was which. During circle time, the children and I drew faces on each shape and added arms, legs, and an assortment of hats and accessories! The children laughed and giggled at the sight of the new \u201cshape people\u201d and quickly learned their shapes. I was so amazed by the response of the children that I designed my own set of characters. Suddenly the shapes came to life! Eventually, I added two more shape characters, an oval and a diamond, and wrote a poem for each one; I called these original six characters the \u201cSHAPELS.\u201d The children actually drew the characters all by themselves and developed their own imaginary shape worlds. Parents told me stories about how the children were recognizing shapes at home and talking about their new \u201cshape friends.\u201d As I began to introduce the characters to preschool classes, I used a more complex approach. I explained to the children how I used my artistic abilities to create each individual personality. I also explored creating the SHAPELS in other media, like clay, to introduce to the young minds the nature of dimension; characters drawn on a page and sculpted out of clay convey wonder to young imaginations. As I continued to visit local schools, I expanded the presentation to include a story I wrote about a bear, named Daniel, who didn\u2019t know his shapes. He travels to SHAPELTOWN with his friend Leo the Lion, meets the SHAPELS, learns the poems for each one, and proudly knows all his shapes! I sewed a huge Tommy Triangle out of material and stuffed him like a pillow, created a house for each of the tiny clay SHAPELS characters and added a train station and tiny train tracks for the SHAPELS very own \u201ctown\u201d and transportation! This past year, I created a brand new set of houses for the characters based on their individual shapes. Cindy Circle now has a \u201ccircle\u201d house \u2013 Tommy Triangle has a \u201ctriangle\u201d house, etc. The children can readily match the character with the appropriate house. I also designed a new train named \u201cClickety-Clack\u201d which houses a \u201crectangle\u201d car for Ricky Rectangle, and an \u201coval\u201d car for Otto Oval, etc. It is my hope to bring a new dimension to \u201cshapes\u201d as a learning tool. I have received encouragement and support, not only from family and friends, but also from many teachers, and it has meant a great deal to me. I believe in the creativity of children and the importance of art and music in their lives. This is the basis for everything on our website. We hope you enjoy using the program and that it will inspire your children to use their imagination as they travel to SHAPELTOWN through the clouds!<\/p>\n\t

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