Magazine Shape Hunt and Sort

This magazine shape hunt is jam-packed with learning! Kids will learn shapes while they practice cutting, gluing and sorting. It’s also an awesome way to work on critical thinking and observation skills.

This magazine shape hunt is a hands-on way for kids to learn shapes, get scissor cutting practice, develop fine motor skills and work on sorting. It is also develops critical thinking skills and observation skills in an engaging, open-ended way.

My son needs some extra practice with cutting and gluing so I have been brainstorming ways to engage him with activities that will work on these skills. I have been doing lots of fine motor activities because he doesn’t like to just cut lines or objects for the sake of it.

That’s when I thought of this magazine shape hunt. I like that it is engaging on so many different levels and something that is totally open-ended. I can leave it on the table for days and let my kids interact with it whenever they want.

Related read: Cutting Practice with Straws and Play Dough

It was such a great success! My son really enjoyed it. He got a huge amount of cutting practice in a way that he was totally engaged with. Plus, I witnessed him using critical thinking skills and observation skills the entire time.

Setting Up the Shape Activity

Supplies Needed:

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  1. Cut construction paper in half and draw a shape on it. I also like to include the name of the shape on it. Just another way to keep things print-rich.
  2. Tape the shape papers to the middle of the table
  3. Lay the magazines, scissors and glue sticks on the table too.

Hunt for shapes in magazines and then sort the shapes.

Magazine Shape Hunt

I showed my kids how we could search through the magazines for shapes, cut them out and then glue them to the corresponding shape paper on the table. They were excited to get started.

Scissor cutting practice with magazines. A fun way to practice this valuable fine motor skill.

Cutting and gluing shapes from magazines is a fun way to develop fine motor skills and critical thinking skills.

Preschool shape investigation with magazines! It's excellent cutting and gluing practice as well.

My 5-year-old son loved searching through the magazine to find shapes. Triangles were a bit difficult to find, but he enjoyed the challenge. It was an awesome way to encourage him to use the scissors and practice cutting.

Using scissors on magazine pages can be quite difficult, but he never complained and found ways maneuver the magazine around to cut out the shapes he needed. It was perfect for reinforcing hand-eye coordination and fine motor skills.

Sorting shapes activity for preschoolers that is open-ended and fun.

My almost 3-year-old loved using the safety scissors to cut things out of the magazines too. She glued them all over the place, but I did try to encourage her to glue them to the correct shape paper on the table. She is really doing well with using scissors.

I loved that this challenged them in so many different ways. They had a great time and worked on several different skills. We will certainly do this again!

Magazine shape hunt and sort activity that develops scissor cutting skills, observation skills, critical thinking skills while practicing sorting.

Here are some more activities that will give your kids cutting practice.

Spider Web Cutting Activity

Cutting Practice: Making Ribbon Confetti

Open-Ended Cutting Practice from Preschool Inspirations

Scissor Skills: Everything You Need to Know from Sugar Aunts

Tons of Ideas for Practicing Cutting Skills from Powerful Mothering

The Very Busy Spider Cutting Activity from Munchkins and Moms

Cutting Practice with Silly Scissors from Stir the Wonder

DIY Scissor Cutting Strips from Stay at Home Educator