Year 2 Shape: discuss and compare 2D and 3D shapes worksheet

“Polygons and not polygons” is free to print, with no account. It is the first sheet in the Year 2 maths unit “Shape: discuss and compare 2D and 3D shapes”, for children aged 6 to 7, and takes about 20 minutes.

Print it on A4. The child's pages come first; the answers, and what each wrong answer tells you, are on the grown-up page that follows. Weeks 21 to 22 of the year, 10 sheets in the unit.

Free sample · answers on the last page

Polygons and not polygons

Name: ____________ · Date: ____________
Year 2 · Maths · about 20 minutes
Answers are on the grown-up page

Today I can count the sides and corners of shapes, and sort polygons from shapes that are not.

A Look back3 min

1.
What is 5 tens and 3 ones?
2.
40 + 30 =
3.
62 26

B Watch me, then you4 min

Mia counts the sides of a square. She marks each side as she goes, so she never counts one twice.

Watch me

Start at one corner and count each side. Mark it as you go.

The square has 4 sides and 4 corners.

Every side is straight, so it is a polygon.

Now you

1.
How many sides does this pentagon have?

C Your turn5 min

Count the sides of each shape. Mark each side as you go.

1.
How many sides does this shape have?
2.
How many corners does this shape have?
3.
How many sides does this hexagon have?
4.
How many sides does this octagon have?

Say it out loud: What changes from one shape to the next? What stays the same?

D Spot the mistake3 min

Lou says: “This shape has 3 sides, so it is a triangle.”

1.
How many sides does this kite really have?

E Think deeper4 min

Sort these shapes into the right column. Use the pictures to help you.

1.
Write each shape in the right column. Then tell your grown-up how you chose where the semicircle goes.
trianglehexagoncircleovalsemicircle
Polygon Not a polygon

How did it feel?

I can do it Nearly Not yet

For the grown-up

Polygons and not polygons · 2 minutes to read

Answers, and what a wrong one tells you

A

1. 53

2. 70

3. >

B

1. 5 If your child writes 4, they stopped one short: 5 minus 1 is 4. Start at a corner and mark each side as you count it.

C

1. 3

2. 4

3. 6 If your child writes 5, they missed the last side. 6 minus 1 is 5. Put a dot on each side as you count it.

4. 8

D

1. 4 If your child writes 3, they probably stopped one short or counted only half the shape. Mark each side and go all the way round back to the start.

E

1. Polygon: triangle, hexagon · Not a polygon: circle, oval, semicircle If your child puts the semicircle in Polygon, ask: are all of its sides straight? Find the curved part and talk about it.

Words to use

Say“Mark each side as you count it, then check you have gone all the way round.”

Instead of“Just tell them the name of the shape.”

After the sheet

Find three flat things with straight sides at home, like a book, a tile or a box lid. Count the sides and corners of each one together, and say whether it is a polygon.

Tick what your child got right in StudyDen. Anything missed comes back in a later Look back box, so there's no need to redo the sheet.

The rest of this unit

9 more sheets come with a StudyDen plan, in teaching order:

Naming Shapes by Sides(with a plan)
Pentagons, hexagons, octagons(with a plan)
Finding the magic fold line(with a plan)
Compare polygons(with a plan)
Faces Fold into Shapes(with a plan)
Naming 3D Shapes(with a plan)
3D Shape Detectives(with a plan)
Sorting 3D Shapes(with a plan)
Shape detectives: compare(with a plan)

Every Year 2 maths worksheet

The worksheets plan opens a printable sheet for every lesson in Years 1 to 6, each with its answers on a separate page for you. It costs £6.99 a month or £59 a year for the whole family, with no free trial.

The full StudyDen plan adds the lessons themselves, marked as your child works, with the worksheets included. It is 7 days free, then £29.99 a month.

Get the worksheets Try the full plan free

Both start with a free account; you choose the plan when you sign up.