Who Am I?

Free puzzles to print

Each set: a Learn sheet with a worked example, 10 puzzles from easiest to hardest, and the answers.

• Level 1

  Ages 4–6 · Pre-K–K

  

  The easiest puzzles: the right shape is a triangle or a four-sided shape, and all four shapes are familiar. Each wrong one has at least 2 corners more or fewer.

  The middle puzzles: familiar shapes with close counts, so a wrong shape may have just one corner more or fewer.

  The hardest puzzles: unusual shapes children rarely see, such as darts, notched shapes and L-shapes, with close counts. Corners that point inward count too.

  On the sheet: “Find the shape that matches the clue.”

  Print Level 1 (Letter)Other paper size: A4

• Level 2

  Ages 6–8 · Grades 1–2

  

  The easiest puzzles: two clues and 4 shapes on a dot grid, about the number of sides, square corners or equal sides.

  The middle puzzles: 5 shapes, and one clue says what the shape is not.

  The harder puzzles: three clues and 6 shapes.

  The hardest puzzles: three clues, two or three of them "not" clues; each clue alone leaves at least 3 shapes, so every one is needed.

  On the sheet: “Read the clues. Cross out the shapes that don't fit.”

  Print Level 2 (Letter)Other paper size: A4

The thinking it works on

• Knowing shapes by their parts

  Describes a shape by its sides and corners.

  Clements and colleagues (1999) found that children aged 3 to 6 told shapes apart mainly by their overall look. So a shape that looks unusual is often not matched to its sides and corners. Source

• Counting each thing once

  Counts every corner exactly once.

  Rodríguez and colleagues (2013) found that children aged 5 to 8 got much better with age at spotting when someone counted a set wrongly. Source

• Reading a picture clue

  Reads dots and sticks as a number of corners or sides.

  Starkey and Cooper (1995) found that 2- to 5-year-olds could name small sets of items shown too briefly to count, whatever their arrangement. The range grew with age, from 1 to 3 items to 1 to 5. Source

• Ruling options out

  Crosses out shapes that don't match the count.

  Pillow and Pearson (2009) found that from kindergarten on, children rated a conclusion that had to be true, given the facts, as more certain than a guess. Source

• Counting corners on unusual shapes

  Counts corners on shapes it hasn't seen before.

  Tsamir, Tirosh and Levenson (2008) found that a non-triangle that looks much like a triangle fooled kindergarten children more often than one that looks nothing like it. Source

• Combining clues

  Uses two or three clues together, "not" clues included.

  Andrews and Halford (2002) tested children aged 3 to 8 on six kinds of task. A decision linking three things at once was harder than one linking two. Source

Where is this thinking used?

• Road signs: A stop sign has 8 sides, and a yield sign has 3.
• Guessing games: An object is guessed from a few facts about it.
• Building: The right piece for a frame or a model is chosen by its sides.
• Describing: Telling someone about a shape so they can draw it unseen.