Sorting, Matching, and Pattern Fun

Do you have a bag of these foam shapes somewhere around your home?  I picked up these on clearance at a craft store years ago.  Since then I have found so many uses for them. 

They were designed to use for crafting projects, so of course, that's what I used them for.  I covered the edges of an old bulletin board for my oldest son's sports room.  We also decorated a sign for his door and made picture frames with the shapes.

Then I had the huge bag of foam shapes sitting around.  I starting to think about what else I could use them for.  I got them out one day when Luke was a preschooler, and we starting matching shapes and colors. 

Later, we started sorting them.  We sorted by color.

We also sorted by the type of sports ball.

We also did patterns.  This could be a little tricky, because kids will need to think about color and shape at the same time.  It's a good hands-on early math lesson!

Now I think we could use them to help illustrate multiplication and division problems.  We might get a few more years out of these old foam shapes!

Apparently they are also fun to roll around on them!  As I finished typing this, my toddler dumped out the entire bag and started to roll in them. 

Do you have any other good ideas?