Resource
Preferential Voting – Put Choices in Order Colouring Page
Compare the ballot-completion instructions for House of Representatives and Senate preferential voting. Free one-page A4 activity with educator guidance and checked answers.
Print, solve and discuss
Preview the complete activity page
Download one-page A4 worksheetCheck the preview, printing notes and licence before use.
A practical Australian civics and community activity
Compare the ballot-completion instructions for House of Representatives and Senate preferential voting. The printable gives children a specific task, visible response space and enough information to begin without a long educator explanation.
What children do
Colour the fictional scene, then read how preferences are numbered on the two federal ballot papers.
Prepare and run the activity
Materials: Printed worksheet, pencil and optional colouring tools. Allow about two minutes to print and place the page. The activity usually takes 30 minutes.
Treat the page as a form-completion explainer, not as a vote or political-preference survey.
Keep examples fictional. Do not ask children to share household income, access to money, political preferences, addresses or family voting choices.
Answer guide
- House: number every box, starting with 1 for the first choice.
- Senate: number at least 6 boxes above the line or at least 12 below the line, starting with 1.
- The illustration and community ideas are fictional and are not an official ballot.
Adapt participation
Simpler way to join: Read the task aloud, complete one example together and allow pointing, moving tokens or dictating instead of writing.
More challenge: Explain why an ordered list gives more information than choosing only one option.
Learning opportunities
Look for civic knowledge, sequencing, evidence and respectful community participation. Ask a child to show a match, calculation, sequence or reason; completion alone is not evidence of understanding.
Useful educator prompts
- What information on the page helps you begin?
- How could you check that match, total or sequence?
- Which part is a fact, and which part is a choice or opinion?
Fact-check sources
Printing notes
Print at actual size on A4 paper. The worksheet is ink-friendly and uses simplified diagrams rather than reproductions of banknotes, coins, official ballot papers or government artwork.
