Shape Coloring Worksheet: Before the Shape!
This worksheet combines shape recognition with sequencing by asking children to identify which shape comes before a given shape in a row, requiring them to understand order as well as shape names. For ages three to five, thinking about what comes 'before' something visually is a gentle introduction to ordinal reasoning that will later apply to numbers and letters as well as shapes.
Curriculum
How to use this worksheet
Look at the row of shapes together and name each one out loud, circle, square, triangle, and so on. Point to the given shape in each row and ask your child to find the shape that comes immediately before it in the sequence. Have them color that shape using a crayon of their choice, then repeat this identify-and-color process for the remaining rows on the page. Review the finished page together, asking your child to name the shape they colored and explain why it comes before the given one.
Materials needed
- Pencil
- Crayons or colored pencils
Extension activities
- •Have your child draw a row of shapes themselves and color the one that comes before a shape you point to.
- •Create a matching game using shape flashcards, laying them in a line and asking 'which one is before the triangle?'
- •Go on a shape hunt around the house, arranging found objects in a row and identifying which is before or after another.
- •Build a shape sequence out of blocks and ask your child to remove the one that came 'before' a chosen block.
Tips for parents and teachers
Encourage your child to say each shape name out loud in order as they scan the row, since naming the sequence aloud makes it much easier to identify what comes before a specific shape. If 'before' seems to confuse them, connect it to a more familiar context first, like the day that comes before today.
Written by
Hemsweta Jain · Teacher Cheena
MBA and Early Childhood Educator, teaching since 2014 · Founder of RaisoActive, Mumbai
Every RaisoActive worksheet is designed and checked by the founder before publishing.
Published · Last reviewed
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