The Animal Journey: Learning Shapes! kit provides a visually rich way for young children (ages 1+) to explore and manipulate basic 3D shapes. Designed by artist Ben Houstie of the Heiltsuk First Nation, each wood-carved character is rendered in the colourful style of traditional B.C. Coastal First Nations art. Children will enjoy learning about shapes by trying to fit Wolf, Whale, Eagle, and Raven into their canoe.
The kit also provides opportunities to tie in spatial learning with two other curriculum strands. To answer the requirements of the Language Arts: Reading strand, manipulation of the wooden shapes could be combined with traditional stories about these four creatures (see here for a guide to finding children’s literature with Aboriginal content at the OISE Library). The kit could also be used with younger and advanced students in Arts: Visual Arts instruction, as an example of the visual styles and motifs of Canada’s First Nations.