Shape Patterns: What Comes Next?
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Skill: Recognizing and extending repeating shape patterns
Download PDF worksheetAnswer key (PDF)
Free for personal and classroom use. Print at 100% / "Actual size" on US Letter paper.
About this worksheet
Patterns are everywhere, from the stripes on a shirt to the order of the days of the week. Spotting and continuing a pattern helps children make predictions and look for structure, a habit of mind that supports all of math. This kindergarten worksheet shows eight rows of circles, squares, and triangles. Each row follows a repeating pattern, and children decide which shape comes next and circle it from three choices.
The patterns increase in variety. Some are simple AB patterns (circle, square, circle, square), while others are AAB, ABB, or ABC patterns. Every row shows at least two full repeats of the pattern, so children have enough information to find the rule.
How to use it: read each row aloud together, naming the shapes in a rhythm, like "circle, circle, triangle, circle, circle, triangle." Hearing the beat often makes the pattern click. Ask your child, "What part keeps repeating?" and have them point to one full repeat. Afterward, invite them to make their own pattern with blocks, stickers, or claps and stomps.
The answer key circles the shape that comes next in each row. There is no Common Core kindergarten standard specifically about patterns, so this worksheet is aligned to K.G.A.2 (correctly name shapes regardless of orientation or size) and Standard for Mathematical Practice MP.7 (look for and make use of structure), which describes exactly this kind of thinking.
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