English for Fun

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Shapes in English for kids

Tap a shape to hear its name. These are the ten shapes children meet in Shape Island.

Tap to hear

Count the sides

  • Triangle has 3 sides. Square and rectangle have 4. Pentagon has 5 and hexagon has 6. "Tri", "penta" and "hexa" mean three, five and six.
  • A square has four equal sides; a rectangle has two long and two short sides.
  • A circle is perfectly round; an oval is round but stretched, like an egg.
  • The diamond shape is also called a rhombus in maths lessons.

Shape hunt at home

  • Walk around the house and name shapes: a round clock, a square window, a rectangle door.
  • Cut shapes from paper and make a house, a robot or a boat together.
  • Ask "How many sides?" and count them with your finger.

Practise with Shape Island

Shape Island teaches these ten shapes and six colours on its first island, Shape Shore, which is free: a shape hunt, shape matching, a first pattern, finding shapes by colour and size, and counting sides. Later islands add mirror pictures and fold lines, patterns like AB and ABC, and building a house, robot, rocket and boat from shapes.

Play free Shape Island

Free printable

Print-ready A4 sheets for "Shapes in English for kids": a chart for the wall, cut-out flashcards and a worksheet with two short exercises. Free to print and share with your class.

Questions

Is a square a rectangle?

Yes, in maths a square is a special rectangle with four equal sides. For young children it is fine to keep them as two names first.

Why learn pentagon and hexagon so early?

Children like long words, and counting the sides links shapes to numbers. Honeycomb cells are a fun real-life hexagon.

More topics

Colours in English for kids

Six colour names and the one rule that matters: the colour comes first.

Numbers 1 to 20 in English

Hear and say every number from one to twenty, with tips for the tricky ones.

The English alphabet: letter names A to Z

Hear the name of every letter from A to Z, with a picture word for each.

Maths words in English for kids

Plus, take away, equals, more and fewer: the words of early maths.