Sort Shapes by Sides — Triangles, Quadrilaterals, Pentagons & Hexagons (Grade 2)

About this activity

Each round drops a jumble of shapes — right and obtuse triangles, squares, rhombuses, irregular pentagons and hexagons — and the child counts the sides of each and drags it into the matching bin. It's a free, interactive Grade 2 geometry activity that plays in the browser with no sign-up.

The key move is counting the sides rather than matching a remembered picture, because a stretched or tilted five-sided shape is still a pentagon. By facing irregular and rotated shapes alongside the tidy ones, the child practices using the number of sides as the rule that names a polygon. That builds the vocabulary — quadrilateral, pentagon, hexagon — and the habit of analyzing shapes by their parts.

It is aligned to Common Core 2.G.A.1 — recognizing and drawing shapes with specified attributes such as a given number of sides, and identifying triangles, quadrilaterals, pentagons, and hexagons. No timer, no score — just calm, playful practice.

What's inside this activity

• Designed for Grade 2 learners (ages about 7–8)
• Common Core strand: Geometry
• Aligned to Common Core standard 2.G.A.1

How to play

Look at each shape and count how many sides it has.

Drag it into the matching bin — triangles, quadrilaterals, pentagons, or hexagons.

Not quite? Try again as many times as you like — there is no timer and no score.

What your child practices

• Count the sides of a shape to decide which polygon group it belongs to
• Tell triangles, quadrilaterals, pentagons, and hexagons apart by their number of sides
• Recognize the same polygon when it is irregular, stretched, or rotated
• Use the words quadrilateral, pentagon, and hexagon correctly

Learning goals

Identify triangles, quadrilaterals, pentagons, and hexagons by their sides — the focus of Common Core 2.G.A.1.

Understand that the number of sides, not the look, names a polygon.

Build the shape vocabulary and side-counting habit that later geometry depends on.