The key thing in Year 1 is that children have as many opportunities to handle shapes as possible. They will probably start by looking at 3D shapes as these shapes can be touched and moved. They will be expected to recognise and name some 3D shapes, including cubes, cuboids, pyramids and cones.

As they pick them up and handle them, children should be able to discuss the properties of these 3D shapes, in particular sorting according to the number of sides or corners they have. Of course, the real world is made up of millions of examples of these shapes – look out for them wherever you go.

In Year 1 children are encouraged to see 2D shapes on the surfaces of 3D shapes. Indeed, 3D shapes can be used as stencils or prints to make 2D shapes. There are four 2D shapes which children should become familiar with in Year 1. These are circle, rectangle, square and triangle. Unfortunately, they are not the easiest words to spell and this will come later! It is important that children realise that all 2D shapes are flat.

Children will be asked to sort 2D shapes according to their properties. Remember that the square is a special sort of quadrilateral, with all four sides the same length and all four angles are right angles. We normally see squares represented with the sides horizontal and vertical, but it is harder to spot a square when it is tilted, giving it more of a diamond appearance. Children may describe this as a different shape which highlights the need to understand that a shape stays the same even if it is rotated.

We have plenty of pages to back up all the practical work carried out in Year 1; take a look now.