Children who have strong spatial reasoning abilities also have an advantage when it comes to learning the number line and solving math problems, researchers at the University of Chicago say.

For more information about this topic or for ideas for classroom activities, take a look at our resources on geometry, or the more specific topic areas of shape and spatial relationships.

Students explore spatial relationships by describing and traversing an obstacle course, then making a map of it.

In this geometry activity for pre-k and kindergarten, students distinguish shapes using touch rather than sight.

A child identifies various shapes.

Focus on the Child videos are taken from one-on-one interviews with individual children. The interviews are designed to elicit evidence of children’s mathematical thinking. They are not teaching episodes or formal assessments.

A child identifies triangles on a page of shapes.

Focus on the Child videos are taken from one-on-one interviews with individual children. The interviews are designed to elicit evidence of children’s mathematical thinking. They are not teaching episodes or formal assessments.

A child identifies two-dimensional shapes.

Focus on the Child videos are taken from one-on-one interviews with individual children. The interviews are designed to elicit evidence of children’s mathematical thinking. They are not teaching episodes or formal assessments.