Preschoolers’ Recognition of Shapes and Forms in Everyday Objects Relates to their Spatial Skills

Without any form of training, children can correctly match about 85% of pABC forms embedded in images of natural and human-made items. Children who matched more pABC forms displayed higher scores on a spatial measure, suggesting that training children on the pABC may be an accessible route for improving children's spatial skills.

This poster discusses preschooler children’s ability to recognize shapes and forms in everyday life.

Additional research found that matching more novel, unfamiliar forms in the pABC Growth category, like spiral and wave, was more related to children's spatial skills than matching more familiar shapes and forms, like circle and square. It seems that introducing children to all kinds of shapes, not just the usual ones, could be a way to foster children's spatial skills.