Kids Develop Store gave two enthusiastic kids (one not so keen on fine motor tasks) a Shapeeze fine motor kit to review…

What is Shapeeze?

Shapeeze fine motor kits contain colouring and pasting tasks along with pre-cut press-out letters, shapes and numbers. This scissor – free kit contains glue, a sharpener and a set of specially designed easy-grip colouring pencils in a high quality paper pad.

What does the 3-6 years pack contain? 

The 3 – 6 Shapeeze packs contain 24 pages comprising 15 different design activities. The 3-6 age range supports most pre-school curriculum and is a strategic pre-cursor to kindy/prep learning using word identification to complete sentences and identify meaning with pictures in preparation for reading.

What’s in the 4 – 7 years pack?

The 4 – 7 Shapeeze packs contain 26 pages comprising 13 different design activities. Shapeeze 4-7 aims to expand the range of known words/numbers which can support your child’s early reading experience and contribute to improving self-esteem and a love of reading/learning.

What Miss 6 and Mr 4 thought of the 3 – 6 years Shapeeze kit ->

These two awesome kids trialled the 3-6 years Shapeeze pack which accommodated the younger child’s developmental skills.

This enthusiastic lady supported Mr 4 to push the press-out shapes as, “they were quite tricky”. There were some tiny images that required Mum to assist with. Mr 4 who usually avoids pencil/paper tasks was keen to persevere and loved gluing shapes and labelling images. “Let’s do the next one!” He was very pleased with his work, completing many sheets. Miss 6 thought some of the activities were a bit easy (labelling shapes and colours), however enjoyed manipulating the small pieces, “like a collage”.

My OT thoughts on Shapeeze as a therapy tool ->

As an occupational therapist, here is my impression of Shapeeze:

• Comes as a handy A4 size travel case with all equipment – less chance of losing bits!

• The goal of each task is set out quite clearly yet there is room to modify to suit the needs of the individual and session goals

• Activities are closed-ended which will suit the learning style of some kids

• No need for scissors! Reduce demands and multitasking elements

• Great for reinforcement of letter, number and shape recognition – will appeal to kids who enjoy numbers and shapes

• Some of the press-outs can be quite fiddly as Miss 6 found which could be a source of frustration for some kids, especially if they rip! I would recommend grading the task appropriately.

Both kits can be found in store here!

See a video demonstration at Kids Develop Store.

3 – 6years Shapeeze Kit
4 – 7 years Shapeeze Kit