Which One Is Different?
Toddler · 2–3Three pictures in a row are the same and one is not. A free printable for two- and three-year-olds, and usually the first puzzle a child can finish without any help. It asks nothing but looking — there is no category to work out and no counting — which is what makes it reachable this early. Watch which way your child scans the row: left to right is a reading habit forming, and it is worth more than the answer. Print it on A4 or US Letter.
The first puzzle most children can finish alone
There is no category to work out here and nothing to count. Three pictures are the same picture and one is not, and that comparison is available to a child long before they could say why a truck does not belong with the apples. It is usually the first worksheet a two-year-old completes without an adult sitting beside them.
Watch the scan, not the answer
The more interesting thing is which way your child's eye moves along the row. Left to right is a reading habit assembling itself, months before any reading. A child who jumps straight to the odd one has spotted it peripherally, which is also fine — ask them to check the others afterwards and the left-to-right sweep usually appears.
Frequently asked questions
- What age is a same-and-different worksheet for?
- Two to four. Most two-year-olds can point at the odd picture; circling it with a pencil usually arrives a few months later, so pointing is a perfectly good answer.
- My child circles more than one. Is that wrong?
- It usually means they are enjoying the pencil rather than misreading the row. Ask them to point first and circle second, and the extra circles stop.