The Greedy Triangle: Review and Companion Activity (with Free Printable)

I have been meaning to track down a copy of The Greedy Triangle for awhile now, after reading such high praise on other blogs (at Superheroes and Princesses, Mouse Grows, Mouse Learns, and No Time for Flashcards, for instance).  We finally got our own greedy hands on a library copy, but I think this one is well worth owning.

The Greedy Triangle by Marilyn Burns --
A yellow triangle grows bored with his role as a triangle (being a piece of pie, a sail on a boat, or, best of all, the triangle that forms when people put their hands on their hips).  He asks a shapeshifter to turn him into increasingly more complex shapes - from a triangle to a quadrilateral, then onto a pentagon, hexagon, heptagon, etc. all the way up to a decagon (and beyond).  Eventually, he decides to return to his triangular ways.  This book is a super fun introduction to shapes that aren't commonly covered in children's shapes books.

The Bibliophile enjoyed the book, but it was maybe a tiny bit too wordy for his age (he is pretty young, not quite 3).  I thought that having something to act out the story with as we read it would engage his interest more, and it worked really well.

I made up this sheet of printable shapes that correspond to the ones in the story.  I swiped the shapes from this site (thank you, Math League, I hope you don't mind).  Then I added in the numbers for the sides, and the shape names on each.  If you want to use the printable the way that we did, you will need to print two copies of it.

 Greedy Triangle Shapes

I then cut the shapes out of one of the sheets, and left the other as is.  I lined the shapes up in a row, and began reading the story.

As a shape character appeared, the Bibliophile found that shape and moved it over to this "puzzle" sheet (the uncut copy).

He loved it, and has requested to read the book multiple times since so that he can repeat it.  He didn't need any help finding the right shapes, but I assure you that he doesn't know what a heptagon is -- he can just read well.

To see all of our previous reviews/recommendations for books about shapes, click here.  This was a particularly fun set of books/companion craft.

We are linking this post up with Math Monday, Read Aloud Thursday, and Tot Tuesday.


Comment: Have you read this book?  Do you have any other favorite shapes books?  We'd especially love any recommendations for books that go beyond circle/square/triangle/rectangle.  

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