Overview
The children will try to escape from shapes as they recognize and produce words that rhyme with shape, such as scrape, tape, cape, and gape.

Literacy Activities

Escape from a shape

• Put tape down on the floor to form large shapes (e.g., circle, square, triangle).
• Draw a circle, a square, and a triangle on the board and identify each one with or for the children.
• Tell the children to stand on the circle made with tape and join hands so they make the shape.
• Choose one child to put on (or pretend to put on) a cape and go in the center of the shape.
• Explain and demonstrate how the child will try to escape the shape by going under the other children's arms.
• Have all the children take three steps out and three steps in while chanting "Escape the shape! Escape the shape!"
• When the child escapes (or after three tries), have the children go stand around another shape holding hands.
• Have another child to go in the middle, wear the cape, and try to escape. 
• Do the activity one more time around the last shape, then help the children remember words they heard from the activity that rhyme with shape.

More Practice

Produce words that rhyme with shape

• Ask each child to think of a word that rhymes with shape (support as needed). 

Recognize rhyming words 

• Have the children repeat a set of two words (e.g., shape, tape).
• Ask the children to show you thumbs up if the words rhyme and thumbs down if the words do not rhyme (support as needed).
• Repeat with other sets of words: (e.g., drape, cape; scrape, cat; gape, shape; scape, cow; escape, grape).