Free worksheets / First grade math / Shapes & Geometry
First grade shapes & geometry worksheets
Shapes and geometry worksheets: name 2D and 3D shapes, sort by attributes, and split shapes into halves and fourths.
1 set · every set has a free sample to print today
Shapes and geometry in first grade
First graders learn what makes a shape that shape. A triangle always has 3 straight sides, 3 vertices and is closed — no matter its color, its size or which way it is turned. Kids name 2D shapes like squares, rectangles, trapezoids and hexagons, and 3D shapes like cubes, cones, cylinders and spheres.
They also put shapes together to make new ones, and split circles and rectangles into two or four equal shares. Words like halves, fourths and quarters, and phrases like "one half of" and "a quarter of", start here — the base for fractions later on.
Skills kids practice
- Tell defining attributes (sides, vertices, closed) from color, size and turn (1.G.A.1)
- Count the sides and vertices of 2D shapes
- Name 3D shapes and match them to real objects
- Put two shapes together to make a new shape (1.G.A.2)
- Split circles and rectangles into halves and fourths (1.G.A.3)
- Tell equal shares from parts that are not the same size
Tips for teachers and parents
- Turn the paper: a triangle upside down is still a triangle. Saying it out loud helps kids stop judging shapes by how they sit.
- Go on a shape hunt — cans are cylinders, boxes are rectangular prisms, balls are spheres.
- Fold paper squares and circles in half and in fourths before doing the equal share pages.
Questions about shapes & geometry worksheets
What shapes should a first grader know?
Circles, triangles, squares, rectangles, trapezoids, rhombuses and hexagons in 2D, and cubes, rectangular prisms, cones, cylinders and spheres in 3D — and what makes each one that shape.
Is a square a rectangle?
Yes — a square is a special rectangle with 4 equal sides. In first grade many teachers name them separately so kids can tell them apart, which is how our counting pages ask for them.
When do kids learn halves and fourths?
In first grade, with circles and rectangles split into two or four equal shares. Thirds come in second grade.
Standards covered
- 1.G.A.1 Distinguish between defining attributes (e.g., triangles are closed and three-sided) versus non-defining attributes (e.g., color, orientation, overall size); build and draw shapes to possess defining attributes.
- 1.G.A.2 Compose two-dimensional shapes (rectangles, squares, trapezoids, triangles, half-circles, and quarter-circles) or three-dimensional shapes (cubes, right rectangular prisms, right circular cones, and right circular cylinders) to create a composite shape, and compose new shapes from the composite shape.
- 1.G.A.3 Partition circles and rectangles into two and four equal shares, describe the shares using the words halves, fourths, and quarters, and use the phrases half of, fourth of, and quarter of. Describe the whole as two of, or four of the shares. Understand for these examples that decomposing into more equal shares creates smaller shares.