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.
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Month 7: Comprehensive preschool learning | Ages Up to 4
This is page 14 of the pack. Ages 2-4 · PreschoolAges 2-4 · NurseryAges 2-4
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- 2D Shapes > Shapes & Sorting
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
- 1Have your child draw a row of shapes themselves and color the one that comes before a shape you point to.
- 2Create a matching game using shape flashcards, laying them in a line and asking 'which one is before the triangle?'
- 3Go on a shape hunt around the house, arranging found objects in a row and identifying which is before or after another.
- 4Build a shape sequence out of blocks and ask your child to remove the one that came 'before' a chosen block.
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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