Maths
2D Shapes & Patterns
Printable shape practice covering all 12 common 2D shapes. Print a reference chart, trace the outlines, count sides and corners, or continue a repeating pattern from AB up to ABCC. Answer keys included.
Four steps
How to make a shapes worksheet
- 1
Start with the chart
Names first, before any counting or tracing.
- 2
Trace the outlines
Drawing a shape is what fixes its properties.
- 3
Count sides and corners
The star is the one worth spending time on.
- 4
Move to patterns
AB first, then AAB, which is harder than it looks.
Shapes are defined by properties, not by looks
The most common problem with shape teaching is that children learn shapes as pictures rather than as definitions. A triangle rotated onto its point stops being a triangle to a child who learned one picture of one. A long thin rectangle stops being a rectangle.
The fix is to count. Three straight sides and three corners makes a triangle whatever angle it sits at, and once a child is counting rather than recognising, orientation stops mattering. That is why the counting sheet here is worth more than the chart.
The shapes, and what to say about each
| Shape | Sides | Corners | Worth knowing |
|---|---|---|---|
| Circle | 0 | 0 | One curved edge and no corners at all. Every point on it is the same distance from the middle, which is what makes wheels work. |
| Oval | 0 | 0 | A stretched circle. "Oval" is an everyday word rather than a mathematical one; the precise name is an ellipse. |
| Triangle | 3 | 3 | The fewest sides a shape can have. It is also the only shape that cannot be pushed out of square, which is why bridges are full of them. |
| Square | 4 | 4 | Four equal sides and four right angles. A square is also a rectangle, and also a rhombus, which surprises most adults. |
| Rectangle | 4 | 4 | Four right angles, with opposite sides equal. Every square is a rectangle, but most rectangles are not squares. |
| Rhombus | 4 | 4 | Four equal sides, but tilted so the corners are not right angles. This is what children mean by a diamond. |
| Pentagon | 5 | 5 | Five sides. The name comes from the Greek for five, which is the pattern behind hexagon, heptagon and octagon too. |
| Hexagon | 6 | 6 | Six sides. Hexagons tile a surface with no gaps and the least material, which is why honeycomb is built this way. |
| Heptagon | 7 | 7 | Seven sides. Rare in everyday life, though UK 20p and 50p coins are heptagons so they can be told apart by touch. |
| Octagon | 8 | 8 | Eight sides. Chosen for stop signs because the shape is recognisable even when the writing cannot be read. |
| Star | 10 | 10 | A five-pointed star has ten sides and ten corners, not five. Counting the points is the usual mistake, and counting the corners fixes it. |
| Heart | 0 | 1 | Two curves and a single point at the bottom. It has no straight sides, which makes it a useful contrast to the polygons. |
Patterns are early algebra
Continuing a pattern is finding a rule and applying it, which is exactly what algebra asks for years later with letters attached. The progression matters more than the quantity:
- AB. The simplest repeat, and where every child starts.
- AAB. One shape twice, then another. Harder than it looks, because the eye wants to alternate.
- ABB. The mirror of AAB, and worth doing straight after it.
- ABC. Three different shapes before anything repeats.
- AABB. Pairs. The first pattern where a child must hold two counts at once.
- ABCC. Three shapes with the last doubled, the hardest of these.
Ask the child to say the pattern aloud as they work. Saying “circle, circle, square” makes the rule audible, and a rule that can be heard is far easier to continue than one that has to be seen.
Related printables
Number worksheets cover counting and ten frames, pre-writing patterns practise the shapes as pencil movements, and graph paper is what shape work moves onto once measuring starts.
Answers