Printable Shapes Worksheets for Kids

At a young age, children can begin to learn that our everyday environment is made up of real life objects with different sizes and shapes. These printable shapes worksheets for kids can help you teach them all about the shapes in the world around us.

What are the five basic shapes?

The five most common geometric shapes to teach your early learner are square, rectangle, circle, oval, triangle, and diamond. Introducing a new shape to your children will help them to point them out throughout their days.

Shapes can be defined as closed forms or figures that contain lines, surfaces, and angles. The basic shapes in geometry are shapes that we can find in nature, art, food, and signs throughout our lives.

Children will see rectangles in their electronics, circles on their food plates, and may even notice their triangular roof tops.

More Shapes to Teach Your Child

In addition to the square, rectangle, circle, oval, triangle, and diamond, you will also commonly see rhombus, trapezoid, pentagon, hexagon, and octagon listed on shapes charts.

These more complex shapes are also seen all around us in our daily lives. In studying shapes, your young mathematicians will find this next fact fascinating.

What’s the most common shape in nature?

The most common shape in nature is a hexagon? Hexagons can be found in snowflakes, the geometrically flawless beehives, insect eyes, and crystals, even from the biggest planets to the most microscopic compounds. God’s Creation is truly incredible.

There are also other exciting shapes children can learn. In contrast to regular flat two dimensional shapes that have width and length, three dimensional shapes like cylinders and cubes have width, length, and height.

Why do we teach shapes?

It is pretty obvious why we need to teach our children about shapes. Obviously, it’s because of pizza. Kids need to know a pizza pie is round and pizza slices are triangles.

That may be the number one reason, but there are more. There are real beneficial reasons that teaching shapes is critical as part of our child’s early childhood education.

Here are a few important reasons to teach young children all about shapes:

Learning shapes is good for determining differences and similarities.

When students learn about different shapes, they learn to describe the shape’s characteristics. Once they can describe a shape’s characteristics, children can use words to explain their basic understanding of the differences and similarities between shapes.

Increase vocabulary with shapes.

As your children see the differences in the shapes, they need to learn new words to describe the shapes and describe the differences. Children are challenged to use their vocabulary to describe what they observe. For instance, they learn about points, circular, squares, curves, or angles even.

Shapes help kids pay attention to detail.

Your children will begin memorizing the differences in shapes from object to object. The study of shapes seems like a simple task but kids also work on paying attention to detail and focusing on an individual task. Being detail-oriented will help your students in any subject.

Categorization and sorting skills can be learned with shapes.

Sorting skills go right alongside your child’s ability to differentiate shapes. Children can sort or categorize different shapes by their color, size, and the amount of shapes. Sorting shapes is a math skill they will use for more concepts to come like sets and other mathematical methods.

Shapes help children with counting skills.

Learning shapes helps students with their counting skills. Children can count the number of sides, angles, right angles, and lines of each shape or identify if the shape has no angles at all.

Introduce the foundations of problem-solving skills.

Young children often have shape sorters at home. Shape sorters aren’t like any other toy. They actually are tools that allow children to problem-solve in determining which three-dimensional shapes fit in what shape slot.

Let’s not forget about shapes and art.

Artwork can be composed of all different kinds of shapes. When students learn shapes, they also are learning about form through lines, colors, and concepts in enclosed areas. Allow your children to have an art book and task them to use various shapes they are learning.

A kid’s illustrations can benefit from their shape knowledge. Additionally, children can begin learning symmetry with shapes. Students can understand that a central dividing line through a shape will create symmetry.

Hands-on Ways to Teach Shapes

Shape sorters are just one easy way to get your young mathematicians learning about shapes in a hands-on way.

Sort by shape on the floor.

Yes, the floor. Get some colorful tape and tape rather large shapes onto your floor or carpet. Search for 3D shapes (toys or items around the home), and children will need to sort the shapes into their respective taped shapes on the floor.

NOTE: You can either print out shapes on paper and cut them out for sorting, or your learner can find real life objects in different shapes to fit.

Go on a shape hunt.

Print out a list of actual shapes on a sheet of paper. Children can go on a journey finding around your home (inside and outside for shapes in nature) finding different items with that shape. The more they find real objects, the more they learn about their shape.

Go on a scavenger hunt.

Print out various shapes in different colors about one inch in size, then cut them out (it’s best to laminate them). Place/hide them all around your home and watch your children have a blast hunting all the shapes in hidden places. To add a challenge to the scavenger hunt, your child can tally how many of each shape they have found.

Make shape prints.

Grab some plain paper, washable paint, and shape blocks to create shape art prints. As a challenge, children can make patterns as pattern block art with shapes as well.

Pay chalk hopscotch with shapes outdoors.

Children can use some exercise in between lessons. Shape hopscotch is the perfect fun activity to get children outside and active. Use chalk to draw shapes on your driveway, sidewalk, etc. Instead of using numbers in the squares, draw shapes.

You can also use the chalk shapes to play different games like calling out a shape and your children have to hop on the shape you call out. Or you can play a game of describing a shape and children need to hop on the chalk shape that you are describing.

Make shapes with popsicle sticks.

Color craft sticks can be used to create shapes, even round shapes. Children love using craft sticks and making shapes with them is an effective way for parents teaching shapes in homeschool.

Use shape printables and worksheets.

Hand motor skills can be improved by learning a variety of shapes with printables and worksheets. Printables make great review and practice for a higher level challenge in getting familiar with shapes.

Printable Shapes Worksheets for Kids

Explore these shape printable worksheets and activities for kids to enjoy while learning all about shapes.

Shapes Matching Worksheets

Mitten Shape Matching Printable – These adorable and colorful mittens have a different shape in each so young children can match shapes to the mitten shapes. This is a perfect winter activity for learning fun when it’s chilly out.

Six Shapes Matching Printables – These 6 shapes matching worksheets come in black and white for the shapes triangle, oval, rectangle, square, circle, and star. Students draw a line from the simple shapes on the left to their matching shapes on the right.

Basic Shapes and Real Object Matching – Children can begin making connections between shapes and items in their everyday environment with this shapes matching sheet. Grab instant access to this shape printable.

Cutting Shapes Worksheets

Cut and Paste Learning Shapes Activities – This shape activity is a fun, hands-on way for children to learn about shapes. They can learn shapes while exercising their fine motor skills

Match, Color, and Cut Shapes Worksheet – This free match and color shapes activity sheet tasks children to cut the objects and match them with the correct shape. This worksheet will help children identify shapes with items like heart balloons and stop signs.

Cutting Shapes Scissor Exercise – Grab this pack of 20 free cutting shapes printable worksheets for shape practice and scissor practice. Color the shapes and then cut them out for fine motor skill practice.

Tracing Shapes Printables

Tracing Shapes Worksheets – Tracing shapes on worksheets are the perfect review for writing/drawing simple shapes or complex shapes. Tracing shapes also builds a solid foundation to establish before children start to form letters and numbers.

Printable Tracing Shapes Activities – Download these 10 fun shapes worksheets. The resource includes basic tracing shape printables, learning how to draw shapes, and matching and cutting shapes printables.

Shape Tracing Worksheets – Students will learn shape recognition, symmetry, patterns, and shape tracing with these free shape tracing worksheets. These printables are perfect for kindergarten and preschool kids alike.

Printable Shapes

Road Shape Mats Activity – This super fun free printable road shape mats activity is perfect for your preschoolers. Children can use their hot wheels cars to trace roads in different shapes so children can manually understand how the cards are shaped.

Printable Shapes Book and Activities – These printable activities are perfect for your little learners. The printable book has simple fill-in-the-blank pages kids can color and even write the missing words.

30+ Printables and Games About Shapes – You won’t want to miss this awesome resource of free printable shapes activities, games, and worksheets. Kids will have loads of fun shapes practice from two-dimensional shapes matching card game to a 3D shapes pipe cleaners activity.

Shapes Activities

Shapes Playdough Mats Activity – Get your kids ready for hands-on learning with shape playdough mats. Laminate the mats or slide the printable into a sheet cover to use them for practice over and over.

Knowing My Shapes Game for Kids – Explore different shapes and shape attributes more deeply with this fun set of shapes low prep games for kids. Check out various ways to use shape game cards with pictures, shape names, and shape characteristics.

Shade the Different Geometric Shapes Worksheets – You won’t want to miss these shade the shapes worksheets and answer sheets in GIF and PDF versions. Introduce young learners to basic geometric concepts with this list of shade the shape downloads.

Identifying Shapes Worksheets

Shape Identification Worksheets – These free printable shape worksheets are a great way to identify shapes and recognize shapes. Each shape has a dedicated worksheet with a space to even trace the name of the shape. Included are dedicated worksheets for basic shapes and other complex shapes like pentagons, trapezoids, octagons, and crescents.

Identify and Color Shapes Printable – This simple worksheet is a good way to identify, then select and color the correct shape. This also comes with an answer key, so children check their own work.

Shapes Activities for Identifying Shapes – These free labeled 2D shapes and 3D shapes cards come with the visual information of the shape, then three real life objects with the respective shape. These cards help children identify 2D shapes like circles, trapezoids, and 3D shapes like cylinders and prisms.

In Conclusion

A child’s observational skills can be increased by the study of shapes in your homeschool. As they understand their surroundings in life, shapes help them to dissect visual information, begin mathematical concepts, problem solve and learn about symmetry. You will enjoy seeing your student start identifying all the shapes around them as they grow.