We particularly like geoboards because they teach basic visual thinking skills such as shape, size recognition, orientation and even moving up to visual memory.  It allows error-free learning in the home as part of basic school and reading readiness skills.  Geoboards are suitable for ages 4 to 13.Geoboards can be purchased for less than $15 or constructed using wood and nails.  The simplest geoboard can be made from a square piece of wood and 25 finishing nails plus colored rubber bands.

Figures are made on the geoboard by stretching colored rubber bands from one nail to another until the desired shape is formed.We recommend a pair of geobords with colored rubber bands. The child has one board and the teacher/parent has an identical board.  The leader makes a basic shape and then the follower makes an identical shape on their board.  Eventually the shapes will get more complicated and duplicated with regard to orientation and exact positioning on the boards.

In our home in the evening or weekends as the kids were growing I would pull out the geoboard to “play” for about 15 minutes several evenings each week.  Sitting side-to-side I would make one basic shape and one of our children would duplicate it, of course early on it would take some pointing out differences (not errors).  After a “session” of creating 5-6 shapes and copying then we would always finish with the child making a shape that the parent would “attempt” to duplicate.

While the geoboard is often used in elementary schools to aid in the teaching of basic geometric concepts. From a visual development or school reading stand-point we know that being able to manipulate basic shapes with regard to orientation, size and position is critically important to master before working with shapes and letters on pages.