Kindergarten What Comes Next Worksheet: Moons, Hearts and Crosses in Turn

Start a chant of "square, moon, square, moon" and most five-year-olds will finish it for you before you take a breath. This kindergarten what comes next worksheet asks for the same thinking on paper. Four rows each use two shapes that take turns: a star and a triangle, a square and a moon, a pentagon and a heart, then a heart and a cross. At the end of each row, two choices wait in a box. Your child circles the shape that keeps the row going. The PDF has a second page with the answer key.

Why shapes make the pattern harder

In a color pattern, only one clue changes. Here the shape changes, and in most rows the color changes with it, so your child can lean on either clue. That is a good warm-up for a longer repeating pattern later on.

The last row takes that help away. The hearts and the crosses are both green, so only the outline tells them apart. This is where shape names earn their place, because "heart, cross, heart" is far easier to hold in mind than "the round one, the plus one."

Patterns like these are early algebra: find the rule, then use it to predict. Small rule, big idea.

At the table: name, tap, predict

Before any circling, name every shape in the row together. Say, "Square, moon, square, moon," and tap each one on the page.

The pentagon and heart row is a good place to slow down. It has six shapes and ends on a heart, so a child who only looks at the start may pick the heart again. Instead of correcting, ask, "Which shape did we just say?" and let them hear the turn.

The heart shows up again in the last row, but this time it leads the pattern. Ask, "Is the heart first or second here?" That question keeps the shape sequence in view.

Once the page is finished, let your child build a row for you to finish.

Cookie cutters and This Old Man

Shape patterns are easy to build at home. Press cookie cutters into play dough, or cut squares and circles from paper and lay them in a line. Ask your child to continue the row, then to make one for you.

Also, sing "This Old Man" and add a movement pattern: clap, then pat your knees, all the way through each verse. Every verse repeats the same frame and only the number changes, so children feel a pattern while they sing.

Finally, check the page with the answer key. Praise the method: "You named every shape before you chose. That is how you find a rule."