Ad. I was contacted by Jaques of London to select some toys for Leo. I took this as a chance to get some wooden shape sorters as I know there are many developmental benefits of shape sorters for babies and young children.
Before talking about the products I picked out, I wanted to explain a bit about shape sorters and how beneficial they are for a child’s development.
Shape sorters are a popular toy – we’ve all seen them and probably played with them ourselves when we were younger – but do you know the benefits of shape sorters?
What is a Shape Sorter?
The shape sorter is a toy that promotes cognitive development in young children. This educational toy consists of various shapes that the child must fit into corresponding holes on the sorter. By manipulating and fitting the shapes into the correct slots, children enhance their problem-solving skills and spatial awareness. This activity requires the child to use their thinking skills and fine motor abilities to recognise shapes and match them to the appropriate holes. As a result, the shape sorter helps children develop their logical thinking abilities and improve their hand-eye coordination. This toy also encourages concentration and patience as they persist in solving the puzzle. The shape sorter contributes significantly to a child’s cognitive development by building essential skills necessary for future learning and problem-solving.
How is shape sorting good for brain development in toddlers?
Playing with a baby shape sorter helps your child with fine motor and problem-solving skills, develops hand-eye coordination, and also develops their vocabulary knowledge. Read about the shape sorting activity benefits below.
The benefits of shape sorters
Shape sorters offer far more developmental benefits than you might expect. Here are the main ways they help your child’s development:
Problem-solving
Shape sorters help children solve problems independently by working out which shape fits in which hole. This is one of the most valuable benefits of shape sorters as it teaches children to think through challenges without immediate adult intervention.
Practice patience
Encouraging children to keep trying when they’re not getting the right shapes in the hole is a wonderful way for them to practise patience. Don’t forget to praise them when they get it right!
Develop fine motor skills
Shape sorters are excellent at helping children develop their fine motor skills as they attempt to pick up the shapes and work to fit them in the right holes. This is crucial for later skills like writing and using cutlery.
Develop hand-eye coordination
Another of the many shape sorter toy benefits are hand-eye coordination is the ability to perform movements with the hands while being guided by the eyes. This skill is practised a lot when children use shape sorters.
Learn shapes and colours
Shape sorters give children the chance to learn the names of shapes and colours as they play. You can do lots of things to help them, such as reinforcing learning by saying things like ‘Let’s try the red square next’ or ‘Can you find the blue circle?’
When Can Babies Do Shape Sorters?
Start introducing a baby to a shape sorter as soon as they start grasping objects (usually around 6 months). Even if all they can do is hold the shapes, it’s a wonderful way for them to explore them and you can tell them about the shape as they do. They’ll soon move on to bashing shapes together, throwing them, taking them in and out of the box, and then will be able to do more and more as they grow.
Leo started playing with the shapes at around 6 months old. There are many benefits of shape sorting for toddlers as well as babies, so don’t think of them as just a baby toy. My son is now 4 and still enjoys using shape sorters for different activities like colour sorting and counting.
Most babies can start to actually sort shapes into the correct holes between 15-18 months old, though this varies by child. The key is to let them explore at their own pace without pressure.
Activities you can do with a shape sorter
As you can see, shape sorters really are great for your child’s cognitive development! There are lots of activities you can do with them too and it’s so much fun to reach a shape sorter milestone as they learn more skills. Here are some ways you can help and encourage your child with a shape sorter:
Matching
You can match the shapes to holes by letting your child drop the shape into the correct hole. You can also play colour-matching games if there are multiple shapes of the same colour. Ask them to pick out all the red shapes, for example.
Colour sorting
Ask your child to sort all the colours into different piles. This is one of my favourite ways to use a shape sorter as it teaches colour recognition and categorisation skills.
Taking turns
You can each take a turn such as ‘my turn’ and ‘your turn’ to encourage turn-taking, this is a great way to play shape sorting for toddlers.
Asking questions
Give your child the shape sorter box and request that they ask you for the shape before you give it to them
Counting
Get them to count the shapes, or even count the sides of the shapes. For example – a triangle has 3 sides.
Following instructions
Ask them to find certain shapes and colours and place them in the shape sorter. For example, ‘Can you find the square?’ or ‘Can you find a red object?’ This helps with listening skills and following instructions.
Did you know about all of these shape sorter benefits?
Jaques of London sell lots of Educational Toys and I knew I wanted these shape sorters right away! I was close to buying them myself. Leo already has three other wooden toys from Jaques of London (one from a previous collaboration and two bought).
The Shape Sorter cube is a great toy for babies around one-year-old. Leo had a lot of fun exploring this shape sorter, he first tipped them all out and tried to get the lid back on. I showed him the pieces and when through the names of each piece with him. I also matched up the colours for him and in time, I will be encouraging him to put the same colours together on his own.
He’s not yet able to put the shapes in the holes, but he watched me do and he banged on the box with the shapes and lid. We took the lid off and I would hand him a shape and keep one for myself. I then put my shape inside the box and he copied me by dropping his shape in the box too. This shape sorter features 100% FSC Approved wood as well as water-based brightly coloured paint for hours of safe play.
I know we will be able to play with this toy for a long time as I can change up the style of play as he grows. Eventually, he’ll be able to sort the shapes himself so we can do some different tasks with the shapes and colours.
I’d love to get some more of Jaque’s of London Toys for 1 year olds over his birthday and Christmas.
Leo also loved his Animal Safari Toy. This beautiful wooden truck comes with 6 animals. The animals included are a zebra, an alligator, a lion, a giraffe, a hippo and an elephant. The animals slot into a solid wooden safari truck. There’s a rope attached to pull it along.
Leo had fun exploring the animals but this toy is suited for an older child, so I put it away for a while as he had lots of toys better suited to his age at the time. There are so many benefits of shape sorters for toddlers as well as babies. When they’re older, they can use shape-sorting toys to improve their language skills as well as gain other benefits. My son is now 4 and uses these shape sorters to name colours, shapes, animals, count and more.
I love to have toys ready for him to play with when he’s a bit older though! We have about 5 toys in his wardrobe waiting for him. On Jaques website, this is advertised as a toy for around 3 years of age.
Get some shape sorting toys for your child and watch them explore!
Shape Sorter FAQs
What are the benefits of shape sorters?
Shape sorters help babies and toddlers develop problem-solving skills, fine motor skills, hand-eye coordination, patience, and shape/colour recognition. They’re brilliant for cognitive development and the benefits continue as children grow – my 4-year-old still uses them for counting and pattern-making.
What age are shape sorters good for?
You can introduce shape sorters from around 6 months old when babies start grasping objects. Most babies can actually sort shapes into the correct holes between 15-18 months old. They remain useful up until age 4 or beyond as children can use them in more complex ways like colour sorting, counting, and following instructions.
When can babies do shape sorters?
Most babies can start successfully putting shapes into the correct holes between 15-18 months old, though this varies by child. Before this age, babies can still benefit from exploring the shapes, holding them, and taking them in and out of the container.
When do babies sort shapes?
On average, babies begin to sort shapes correctly between 15-18 months of age. However, some children may do it earlier or later. Shape sorters are valuable for any baby who can sit independently, as they can still play with and explore the shapes even before they can sort them correctly.
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Shape sorters are brilliant toys for toddlers and there are so many good benefits to them playing with them! x
Lucy | http://www.lucymary.co.uk
This was so helpful. My sister just had twin girls and I will forward to her. It’s so important to build fine motor!
Oooh this is such an amazing idea! I love that it is educational!
I’ve always heard that these were great for motor skills but they so many benefits! Great post x
Funny I was literally talking to someone the other day about the importance of children working out problems for themselves and now I can’t even remember who or why!
Amy x
Amazing how such a simple toy can be so beneficial x
Such a great idea for kids
Jacques of London is a brand I love! Their wooden toys are my favorite because they are hardy, colorful, and appeal easily to kids in a wide age range. The shape sorter is a toy I had and my siblings had, and it is still going strong waiting to be passed down later on in our lives. 🙂
Rex is 14 months and loves his shape sorter. He had one with basic shapes but also has one with animal shapes (which he loves more for emptying and then playing with the animals). He loves sorting and will often take his lunch off the plate to the table and then put it all back on the plate in his own order lol.
I used to have this toy when I was a baby. I kinda miss it tho. Hehehe.
What a nice truck Leo is playing with – you can see he’s having a blast! I prefer wooden toys so much more than plastic ones, they last way longer than the counterpart and somehow always look better!
I remember loving shape sorters when I was younger! I also love so much that these are wooden and better for the environment 🙂 xx
This is fun. It does help a child’s development and also helps to pass time doing these shapes.
My baby girl has the same sorter box from Jaques of London and she loves it. Hasn’t quite worked out how to sort them all yet though, she just takes the lid off and chucks the shapes in haha!
My little ones used to love anything like this! So great for them. Your little boy is so cute xx
These are such cute toys! We had very similar little wooden animals too – ours was an ark! We ended up donating the toy to my son’s kindy when he outgrew it, it was one of their faves as as well as putting the animals in the shapes you could take them up the ramp onto the boat – so much fun for animal lovers like my two!
Hope you had a good weekend 🙂 We made the most of the nice sunny days after a rainy week, with a local market event and a morning at the park.
I love this kind of toy since I learned about it at university (my first degree was in Psychology with child development at its core). These are wonderful toys that really help small children develop. I’m glad Leo likes this so much.
Never thought you could do so many things with a shape sorter. I mean we even had one at home and apparently didn’t use it to its full potential!