Grade level
Kindergarten Worksheets
Free printable worksheets for ages 5 to 6, grouped by strand: phonics and reading, handwriting, numbers, and the everyday measurement skills of shapes, time and money. Answer keys included where they help.
Start here
If reading is the priority, start with CVC words. They are the first words a child can read entirely by decoding, and that first unaided read is what makes everything after it feel possible.
Kindergarten is where the pieces start joining up. Letters become sounds, sounds become words, and counting becomes quantity rather than a rhyme. The work shifts from control to meaning, and the reading and maths strands begin to move at different speeds, which is normal.
Blending is the gate
Knowing letter sounds is not the same as reading. The step between them is blending: holding the first sound in mind long enough to join it to the next. A child who says "c... a... t" and then cannot say the word has a blending problem, not a phonics problem, and more letter drilling will not fix it. Practise joining two sounds before adding a third.
Phonics and reading
Decoding and sight recognition, which are two different skills and both are needed.
- CVC words. The first words readable entirely by decoding, with no exceptions to memorise.
- Sight words: pre-primer. The first 40 high-frequency words, most of which cannot be sounded out.
- Sight words: primer. The next 52, once the pre-primer list is automatic.
Handwriting
Lowercase now matters, because it is what writing actually uses.
- Alphabet tracing. Both cases, with starting dots and the stroke said aloud.
- Handwriting paper. The same rulings, blank, for free writing.
- Name tracing. First name, then surname, in name case rather than capitals.
Numbers
Quantity first, then the symbol, then adding.
- Numbers 0 to 20. Writing digits, ten frames for quantity, and missing number sequences.
- Addition and subtraction. Small numbers first, with an answer key.
- Number bonds. That 10 is 7 and 3 at the same time, which is what makes subtraction recall rather than counting back.
- Skip counting dot to dot. Counting by 2s, 5s and 10s, which is the bridge to multiplication.
Shapes, time and money
The everyday measurement skills, which are mostly convention and must be taught.
- Shapes and patterns. Counting sides and corners, and continuing AB and AAB patterns.
- Telling time. O'clock and half past to begin with, reading before drawing.
- Money. Coin identification first: value has nothing to do with size.
Ready for the next stage when
- They can blend three sounds into a word without a long pause.
- They read the pre-primer and primer sight words without hesitating.
- They write most lowercase letters from memory, on the line.
- They count to 20 and know what each quantity looks like.
Treat these as signals rather than a checklist with a deadline. Children move through the reading and maths strands at different speeds, and being ahead in one and behind in another is the normal case rather than a problem.
The other stages
preschool worksheets for ages 3 to 5, and first grade worksheets for ages 6 to 7. Every generator listed on this page is free, runs in the browser, and exports a print-ready PDF with nothing uploaded.
Answers