Gifts for Those Who Love Shape

Continuing in the vein of gift-giving, I'm working on a series of posts for The Missing Alphabet blog that reccommends gifts for kids who have proclivities and strengths in a particular sensory alphabet element (line, color, shape, movement, rhythm, space, texture, light, sound). You may be interested in that post about creative gifts if you have a child, grandchild or other child in your life whose creative imagination you'd like to spark. But maybe you would just like to honor your own inner artist child who loves shape!

So, I adapted that blog, expanded and edited it here for the grown-up lover of shape. You may recognize yourself or a friend, and find something here that makes for an imaginative gift -- or maybe you just need to gift it to yourself! We all need to do a little encouraging of creative playtime in our lives!

Stencils and stamps

Any shape lover will have a ball with different kinds of stamps and stencils. Find a set of simple geometric shapes, perfect for fabric or mixed media uses from Discount School Supply: set of 14 geometric Easy-Grip Shape Stampers. Though made for kids, these are really ideal for fabric stamp work, and the alphabet stamps at the same company are great, too. 

You can also buy giant ink stamp pads from the same source and use them with thin fabric inks or paints. Discount School Supply also carries a wide variety of stencils, best to use with rollers or foam brushes. Some basic shapes are in this kit. 

Origami paper and how-to books

SHAPE lovers might be interested in origami and other paper folding crafts. This is probably one of those activities you should “test out” before investing in books or materials. Your public library (and the web) has plenty of origami resources.  Here are some websites to check out: http://www.origami-instructions.com, http://www.origami-fun.com

And if it’s a go, you can find beautiful origami papers, at this site (and others)  http://www.origamicorner.com

A shape collage kit

Fill a plastic shoebox with shapely stickers, glue sticks, double-sided tape, paper die-cut shapes, hole punches that make different shapes, a good pair of craft scissors and colored origami paper (fun because of its two-sided color). Give this kit along with a pad of bristol board or card stock, some sturdy paper that holds up to collage fun and games. Die cut shapes are available at local dollar stores often, or you can find them online, too. 

Great shape collectibles

If the shape lover you know likes to look at shapes, consider a collectible such as a beautiful ceramic piece, a woven vessel, Mexican folk art masks, antique bottles or jars, or any wonderful shap-ey object of beauty. 

I've mentioned some of these apps before, but all of them are good for shape sensitive minds.

Tablet and Smart Phone apps for the SHAPE Lover:

If you have a digital tablet (or smart phone for some of these), there are some great art apps out there with lots of shape fun to be had. Some of our favorites:

Stencils from 7Twenty7  at http://www.7twenty7.com/apps/stencils

Draw Free from David Porter Apps for Ipad, also available for Android. This free app (has ads in a small banner) strikes a great compromise between features and ease of use. 

Hope Poster makes a strongly shape oriented graphic poster design of any photo in your photo file with just a few clicks and swipes. , also available for Android. Poster is a similar app at

Digital Tangram Puzzles can be found with these and other apps: Tangram Mania (non-traditional tangram-style puzzles with different shapes), https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/tangram-mania-free/id514992796?mt=8 and New LetsTans Premium, a traditional puzzle set (free version is available, but lower ratings) is at https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/new-letstans-10-in-1/id548830132?mt=8

PS: I've linked up with Nina Marie Sayre's Friday gang of creative posters/bloggers with this post. Check out the site here.