Read

Classify Shapes by Color

This kindergarten lesson teaches how to classify shapes by color: looking at a mixed group of shapes and sorting them into color groups such as red, blue, and yellow. It explains the difference between sorting by color and sorting by shape, and walks through a step-by-step example.

What Does It Mean to Classify Shapes by Color?

Classifying shapes by color means looking at a group of shapes and sorting them into smaller groups based only on their color, not their shape. A pile of shapes might have circles, squares, and triangles all mixed together, but if some of them are red, some are blue, and some are yellow, a student classifying by color would put every red shape together, every blue shape together, and every yellow shape together, no matter what shape each one is.

This is different from grouping by shape, where a circle would go with other circles even if they are different colors. Both skills matter, but they focus on different attributes. If you want to review sorting shapes based on their shape instead of their color, take a look at classify and sort by shape.

Why Color Is a Useful Sorting Attribute

Color is one of the easiest attributes for young learners to notice, because it does not require counting sides or comparing curves and corners. A shape's color stays the same no matter how the shape is turned, stretched, or resized, which makes color a reliable clue for sorting. Learning to classify by color also builds the habit of picking one attribute at a time and staying consistent with it, a skill that carries over to any kind of sorting task, including the broader idea covered in classify and sort.

Step-by-Step: How to Sort Shapes by Color

Follow these steps whenever you are asked to classify shapes by color.

Look at every shape in the group and name its color out loud.
Decide how many color groups you need, for example a red group, a blue group, and a yellow group.
Move or point to each shape and place it in the matching color group.
Check every group at the end to make sure no shape's color was mixed up.
Count how many shapes ended up in each color group to compare the groups.

Worked Example

Suppose you have nine shapes: three red shapes, four blue shapes, and two yellow shapes, and the shapes themselves are a mix of circles, squares, and triangles. Sorting by color means every red shape goes together regardless of whether it is a circle, square, or triangle, and the same rule applies to the blue group and the yellow group.

Nine mixed shapes sorted into three groups by color: red, blue, and yellow.

Once the groups are made, you can count them: 3 shapes are red, 4 shapes are blue, and 2 shapes are yellow. Notice that each color group still contains a mix of circles, squares, and triangles, because color, not shape, decided where each one went.

Practicing with Worksheets

Classifying shapes by color is a common worksheet skill in kindergarten. A shapes and colors worksheet usually shows a row of mixed shapes and asks a student to circle or color all the shapes that match a given color. A color by shape worksheet or color the shape worksheet often works the other way, giving a color key for each shape and asking students to fill in the shapes with the matching color, which reinforces the same idea of connecting a color to a shape. A sorting by color worksheet may ask students to draw lines from each shape to the correct color group, similar to the groups shown above.

Building Toward More Advanced Sorting

Once you are comfortable classifying shapes by just one attribute, like color, you are ready to combine attributes or organize sorted groups in new ways. For example, some activities ask you to place shapes into overlapping groups, which is explored further in sort and count shapes into a Venn diagram. Practicing color sorting now makes those next steps much easier to understand.

Related lessons

Kindergarten