Geometric shape preferences among children aged four to six in educational environments in Muscat and Tehran

Geometric forms are fundamental components of children’s educational environments and may influence emotional comfort, spatial perception, and learning behavior. However, limited empirical evidence exists regarding how children’s shape preferences vary across cultures. This study aimed to compare children’s preferences for basic geometric shapes in Iran and Oman while examining the effects of age and gender. A field-based descriptive-analytical method was adopted using a child-centered visual interview technique. Thirty children were recruited from each country, totaling sixty youngsters between the ages of four and six. There were 26 girls and 34 guys in the sample. Four forced-choice trials with circle, square, rectangle, and triangle shapes presented as colored 3D, uncolored 3D, colored 2D, and uncolored 2D stimuli were completed by each child. 240 trial-level replies nested among 60 participants were produced by the process. The correlation between each child’s four responses was taken into consideration using a multinomial generalized estimating equation model. After controlling for within-child clustering, country was still substantially linked with shape preference (Wald χ²(3) = 22.702, p < 0.001). Additionally, significant correlations were found for gender (Wald χ²(3) = 37.962, p < 0.001) and age group (Wald χ²(6) = 13.273, p = 0.039). Shape preference was not significantly correlated with presentation condition (Wald χ²(9) = 5.150, p = 0.821), nor was the country-by-presentation-condition interaction (Wald χ²(9) = 7.168, p = 0.620). In terms of descriptiveness, Omani children chose circles in 59 out of 120 trials (49.2%), while Iranian children chose squares in 44 trials (36.7%) and rectangles in 46 trials (38.3%). Four-year-olds chose rectangles most commonly, five-year-olds chose circles, and six-year-olds chose squares. Girls were more likely to choose squares, while boys were more likely to choose circles and rectangles. When repeated replies within participants are considered, the results show that children’s geometric preferences are related to gender, country, and developmental stage. A cultural–developmental framework is used to analyze the country difference. This framework suggests that visual familiarity, educational exposure, architectural context, and immediate stimulus qualities may alter broad perceptual predispositions, such as an affinity to curvature. The results should be seen as exploratory contextual associations rather than proof that a certain geometric preference is caused by national culture because these mechanisms were not measured explicitly.