Shapes worksheet
Four rows of mixed shapes. Each row names one shape at the left, and the child circles every one in that row that matches. The shapes change size and turn, so it is the shape that matters and not the picture. Free, no account, no ads.
How the shapes sit
Shapes always change size on both sheets. Some turned also rotates the triangles and rectangles, so a triangle pointing down is still a triangle. Squares never turn.
Orientation
Both print the same four rows and the same shapes.
Find the Shapes
Look at the shape on the left. Circle every one that matches.
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How it works
Every row shows one shape at the left, named by both a picture and a word so a child who cannot read yet can still tell what to look for. To the right of the line are six shapes. The child looks along the row and circles every one that matches. Some rows have two matches, one has five, and no row has all six, so circling everything never works.
There is no writing and nothing to count. One pencil is all it takes.
Why the shapes are different sizes
A big circle and a small circle are both circles, and a triangle pointing down is still a triangle. That is the whole idea, and it is why no shape on the sheet is drawn exactly like the one it is being matched to. If every circle looked identical to the example, the child would only be spotting a copy. Changing the size, the width and the turn is what makes it a shape lesson rather than a picture-matching game.
Squares are the one shape that never turns on these sheets. A square stood on its corner is still a square, but most children this age read it as a diamond, and that argument is not one a worksheet can settle.
Squares and rectangles
The square row has a rectangle hiding in it, and the rectangle row has a square. That is the pair children mix up most, so it is worth slowing down for. On these sheets a square counts as a square and a rectangle counts as a rectangle, which is the way this age group is taught. The idea that a square is also a rectangle comes later.
A note on screen readers
This is a printed visual activity. A screen reader is told which shape to look for and how many shapes are in each row, but not which shapes they are, because naming them would give the answer. We would rather say that plainly than pretend the sheet works the same way for everyone.
Where it fits
This sheet needs no counting, so it can come first. Once naming a shape is easy, sides and corners is the next step: where this sheet asks the child to find every shape that matches a named one, that sheet asks how many sides and corners that kind of shape has. Alongside it, complete the pattern works on picture sequences, compare the groups on more, fewer and the same, and count and color on counting to ten. The kindergarten and grade 1 pages gather the resources for this age, and when written arithmetic is the right level you can make a worksheet in seconds.
A simple routine