Putting together a flat-pack shelf from the picture in the instructions. Laying out a place setting the way it was shown. Matching a tiled pattern, folding a towel to look like the others, or rebuilding a model from a photo. Each of these asks the same thing: look at how the parts of a picture fit together, then build it with your hands. After a stroke, a brain injury, or another neurological change, that step from picture to construction can be hard, even when each part is easy to see.
This page offers free block design pattern cards for adults: four Kohs-style red and white designs to build with cubes, two at level 1 and two at level 2. It also explains what a block design task is, how the format relates to the Kohs block design test and the block design subtests of standardized intelligence scales (and why a practice card is not the test), and how the full set of 50 cards is graded across three levels.
Download the free block design pattern cards
Download the PDFWant more pages like this? Kohs Block Design Pattern Cards (50) $5.49 See the full set
Cards A-01 and A-02 (level 1, 2x2 designs) and B-01 and B-02 (level 2, 3x3 designs with the block edges drawn in), on one US Letter sheet in landscape. Cut along the dashed line to make two cards, each with two designs. Free for personal, classroom, and session use.
- Levels: 1 and 2 of 3
- Designs: 4, two 2x2 and two 3x3
- Cubes needed: 4 for a 2x2 design, 9 for a 3x3
- Timing: untimed, note the minutes if you want a record
- Paper: US Letter, landscape
What is a block design task?
A block design task asks a person to copy a printed pattern using identical cubes. Each cube has solid red faces, solid white faces, and faces split corner to corner, half red and half white. A 2x2 design takes four cubes and a 3x3 design takes nine. The person turns each cube until the right face is on top, sets it in the right place, and keeps going until the copy matches the card.
The half-and-half faces are what make the task interesting. Two halves on neighboring cubes join into one bigger triangle, stripe, or diamond, so the design has to be seen both as a whole picture and as separate blocks. On card A-01, a red house shape, two half faces make the roof and two solid red faces make the walls. On card A-02, two half faces form red triangles that meet at the center, and the other two cubes show plain white.
Seeing the parts in a whole
Working out which part of the picture belongs to each cube. On the level 3 cards there are no lines between the blocks, so this is most of the work.
Spatial reasoning
A half-and-half face can be turned four ways, and only one matches. Getting the red triangle into the right corner means comparing angles between the card and the cube.
Building from a model
Looking, choosing a cube, turning it, placing it, and checking, over and over. The task moves from the page into the hands, which is why it is called a constructional task.
Planning and checking
Working in a fixed order and comparing each cube with the card before moving on. A 3x3 design has nine cubes to keep track of, and one quarter turn changes the picture.
The Kohs block design test, and how these cards differ
The format comes from the Kohs block design test, developed in 1920 by the psychologist Samuel C. Kohs. His version used a series of 17 cards that grew more complex as the test went on, copied with painted cubes whose sides were either a single color or two colors divided by a diagonal line. Completion time and the number of moves were recorded. Because the person builds rather than talks, it was designed to be usable with people who have language or hearing differences.
Block design has since been adapted into several standardized intelligence scales. The best known are the block design subtests of the Wechsler scales, the WAIS for adults and the WISC for children, which use red and white blocks, their own set of designs, strict time limits, and norms. Those materials are confidential and are given and interpreted by trained professionals as one part of a broader evaluation. The cards on this page borrow only the general idea: a printed pattern and a set of identical cubes.
Worth knowing: these cards are practice materials, not the Kohs test, the WAIS or WISC block design subtest, or any other test. The designs are our own, there are no time limits or norms, and nothing here produces a score that can be compared with a population. They are not an assessment and not a substitute for an evaluation by a qualified professional. If someone is due to have a cognitive assessment, tell the clinician about any block design practice, since familiarity with the format can affect how a result is read.
How the block design pattern cards are graded
Fifty cards across three levels, two designs to a page, each with a challenge code (A-01, B-01, C-01) and its level printed above it. A how-to-read page at the front explains the codes and the levels. The designs get bigger first, then lose their guide lines:
Level 1: 2x2 (10 cards, A-01 to A-10)
Four cubes per design. From simple shapes, such as the house on A-01, to diagonal patterns where every cube shows a half face. A good place to learn how turning one cube changes the picture.
Level 2: 3x3 segmented (10 cards, B-01 to B-10)
Nine cubes per design, with thin lines drawn where the edges of each block fall. The lines split the picture into nine squares, so the person can match it one block at a time. B-01, a tilted white square framed in red, and B-02, a red hook that curves across the top and down the right side, are on the free sheet.
Level 3: 3x3 non-segmented (30 cards, C-01 to C-30)
Nine cubes per design and no lines between the blocks, so each design reads as one picture: crosses, diamonds, stars, stripes, and dense patterns full of diagonals. The person has to find the block edges before building. This is the largest level, with three times as many cards as the others.
| What you get | Free sample | Full set |
|---|---|---|
| Designs | 4 | 50 |
| Levels | 1 and 2 | 1, 2, and 3 |
| 2x2 designs, 4 cubes | 2 | 10 |
| 3x3 designs with block lines | 2 | 10 |
| 3x3 designs without block lines | None | 30 |
| Challenge codes and level labels | On every design | On every design |
| How-to-read page | Explained on this page | Included |
| Repeat sessions without reusing a page | One page | Weeks of practice |
Using it in a session or at home
- Start with one cube in hand. Before the first card, turn a cube over together and name its faces: solid red, solid white, and half and half. Show how a quarter turn moves the red triangle from one corner to the next.
- Build on a tray beside the card. A tray or a non-slip mat keeps the cubes together and the outline square. The copy does not need to be the same size as the card, only the same pattern.
- Go in level order. Stay with the 2x2 cards until they feel easy, then move to the 3x3 cards with lines, and only then to the cards without lines. When a level 3 card is too hard, try a level 2 card with a similar shape first.
- Check the outline and the turns. Two common slips are a copy that loses its square shape and a half face turned a quarter turn the wrong way. Comparing the copy with the card one row at a time catches both.
- Time it only if it helps. The cards have no time limit. If you want a record across sessions, note the minutes and the number of corrections for each card, and keep the pace calm.
- Adapt for one hand or for words. With one hand, a non-slip mat and cubes set out within reach keep things steady. If handling the cubes is the barrier, the person can direct a partner instead, such as “half red, red in the top left corner”, and check the result against the card.
Prefer a screen? We also offer a free interactive version, Block Design on our tools site, which deals fresh red and white designs every round, from 4 to 16 blocks, drawn like real block design cards with no lines between the blocks. Build each copy on the screen by picking a face and tapping a square, or show the designs on the screen and build them on the table with real cubes. It records the designs built and the time for each one, and on the screen, the checks used and blocks placed wrong. Nothing to print, free to use.
Who uses block design pattern cards
- Occupational therapists working on visual perception and constructional skills with adults after a stroke or brain injury
- Psychology and neuropsychology teams who want practice material kept separate from test kits
- Hospital, outpatient, and community programs running hands-on cognitive stimulation groups
- Caregivers and family members with a set of pattern cubes at home
- Adults looking for block design practice that was not made for children
All of our worksheets are designed to be adult-appropriate and visually clean, with no cartoons or childish decoration.
The four cards above come from a set of fifty. The full Kohs Block Design Pattern Cards set includes all three levels and the how-to-read page, ready to print and laminate for use with standard red and white pattern cubes (cubes are not included). It is also part of the Entire Shop Mega Bundle. For spatial practice on paper, try the free visual spatial worksheet, and a bound book of block design patterns is listed on our printed workbooks page. Our guide to visual perception worksheets for adults explains how block design fits with the other formats.
These materials support cognitive stimulation and structured practice. They are not medical treatment or an assessment, and no specific therapeutic outcomes are claimed.
