Free printable 2D shapes chart

Grades K–2Circle, oval, triangle, square, rectangle, pentagon, hexagon and octagon — with the number of sides and corners for each and something everyday to look for. Print it for the wall, or tap a shape below and watch its sides get counted.

Basic 2D Shapes math chart for kids Tap the chart to open it at full size

Tap a shape and count its sides

Every side gets a green number and every corner a purple dot, so a young child can count along with a finger rather than trying to hold the total in their head.

Start with the octagon. Eight sides is a lot to keep track of by eye, and numbering them turns a guess into a count. Then try the circle, which has none at all — no straight sides, no corners, just one curved edge going all the way round.

The shape names are worth saying out loud together, because several of them explain themselves. Penta means five, hexa means six, octo means eight — the same octo as in octopus, which is the version children remember.

Tap a shape and its sides get numbered

Sides and corners
Tap any shape above
Lines of symmetry
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Look for one of these
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Green numbers count the sides. Purple dots mark the corners.

How to use this 2D shapes chart at home

Go shape hunting rather than shape testing. Walk round the house and find a rectangle, then another one, then a triangle. Children learn shape names the way they learn animal names — by meeting lots of examples, not by studying a definition.

Count sides by touching, not looking. Put a finger on one side, say one, move to the next, say two. Counting by eye means recounting the same side or skipping one, and that is a counting problem rather than a shape problem.

Turn the chart sideways sometimes. Or turn the paper a shape is drawn on. A child who has only ever seen a triangle sitting flat on its base will not recognize one pointing downwards, and the fix is simply to show it early and often.

Shapes are defined by their sides, not by how they look

This is the whole idea underneath the topic, and it takes a while to land. A shape is a triangle because it has three straight sides and three corners — not because it looks like a slice of pizza or sits a particular way up.

You can see the gap when a child calls a rotated square a diamond, or refuses to accept a long thin triangle as a triangle at all. They are matching against a remembered picture rather than checking the properties.

Asking how many sides and how many corners, every time, quietly replaces the picture-matching with a test. It also sets up everything that comes later, because sorting quadrilaterals in Grade 5 works exactly the same way.

Why the names are worth teaching together

Pentagon, hexagon and octagon all carry their number inside them. Penta is five, hexa is six, octo is eight. Once a child spots that pattern, three names stop being arbitrary sounds and become almost guessable.

Octagon is the easiest hook, because octopus is already in most children's vocabulary and has the same eight. Hexagon has honeycomb, which is a genuinely six-sided thing they may have seen.

The exceptions are the first four. Circle, triangle, square and rectangle do not follow the pattern, and there is no point pretending otherwise — those four are simply learned by meeting them often.

Where 2D shapes usually go wrong

Not recognizing a shape once it is turned. The most common issue at this age, and the reason a good chart shows shapes in more than one position.

Saying a circle has one side. Understandable, and the usual answer is that a side has to be straight, so a circle has none.

Calling every four-sided shape a square. Squares need all four sides equal; otherwise it is a rectangle, or something else again.

Miscounting sides on the bigger shapes. Hexagons and octagons get counted twice or short. Touching each side while counting solves it, which is exactly what the numbering above is imitating.

After the chart goes up

A chart explains the idea but gives a child nothing to do. These do the rest.

Everything at this level: Kindergarten math · Grade 1 math · Grade 2 math

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Questions parents ask

What are 2D shapes?

Flat shapes with length and width but no thickness. You can draw one exactly on a page, which is why they are the first shapes children meet. A ball is not a 2D shape, but the circle you draw of it is.

How many sides does each shape have?

A triangle has 3, a square and a rectangle have 4, a pentagon has 5, a hexagon has 6 and an octagon has 8. Circles and ovals have none, because their edge is curved rather than made of straight sides.

What is the difference between a square and a rectangle?

Both have four sides and four square corners. A square has all four sides the same length; a rectangle has two long sides and two short ones. That makes every square a rectangle as well — a special one where the lengths happen to match.

Does a circle have any sides or corners?

No. It has one curved edge and no corners at all. Children often want to say one side, which is a reasonable thing to think — the usual answer is that sides have to be straight, so a circle has none.

Is a shape still a square if it is turned around?

Yes. Turning a shape changes nothing about how many sides or corners it has. A square balanced on one corner is often called a diamond, but it is still a square — this is worth showing early, because children who learn shapes in one position get stuck the first time one appears rotated.

What grade is this 2D shapes chart for?

Kindergarten through Grade 2. Naming and matching shapes comes first, counting sides and corners next, and sorting by properties by Grade 2. Pentagons, hexagons and octagons usually arrive a little after the first four.

Is this 2D shapes chart free to print?

Yes. Open it full size and print as many copies as you need for home or a classroom, with no account and no watermark. Reselling it or re-hosting the file elsewhere is not allowed — link to this page instead.