Here are some fun games I use for center activities during my geometry week. These are great activities to do the first of the year while you are getting routines organized.
A great website to show kids the “NETS” you can fold up with paper to make all sorts of 3D shapes is HERE at Math Salamanders.com. It is a fun site.
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| You can bring in cans and boxes from home to show the 3D shapes to kids. Label them and leave them on a table. They learn just from seeing something visual every day. Encourage them to add to the 3D “Museum”. I do this a lot when we are studying things I want them to memorize. Check out this page from Docstoc.com. It has all the 3D shapes in cut apart cards. |
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| I have a set of these overhead projector “nets” and also rubber stamp 3D shapes. The kids love playing and talking about them as a learning center. They have to trace the overhead ones, cut them out and make them on paper. The stamps they have to write the name of the 3D shape after stamping. |
And I know my students love making nets after they have put a few together from a pattern. It’s fun to get them to make a cube a different way besides just using nets and cut and taped paper. Try using foods and candies or pretzels and gumdrops or toothpicks and marshmallows.
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| Candy comes in all kinds of 3D shapes and would be a great way to extend your geometry unit and especially to teach the vocabulary words. It can get expensive though. I’d start with tootsie rolls for cylinders and caramels for the cubes and maybe some Lemonheads for the spheres. That won’t break your bank!! |
This 3D cube shape is made from gumdrops and stick pretzels. You could also make it with toothpicks and marshmallows.I founds lots of ideas like these on Pinterest. Buy in bulk (12 bags) for gumdrops and share with your whole team. Sams Club has a great price at only $7.98. The stick pretzels each teacher could buy on her own from the no name brand chips brand at the market.
| A fun poem to teach 3D shapes can be found The Kindergarden Smorgasboard. Here is a picture of it. It would be a great song to sing to the tune of Jimmy Crack Corn!! Practice it over and over and you have a great SHARED READING PRACTICE!! |
This is a hilarious video from Teacher Tipster.com. He teaches a cute poem about each shape. Download the poems FREE with colorful graphics of each shape to go with it at the bottom of this post. Check it out here at Teacher Tipster.com. The kids LOVE this guy’s wacky videos and so do I.
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| A fun game that is a shape sorter card game is Free here at Mrs riccas kindergarten. |
I found these activities for teaching 3D or SOLID SHAPES on Pinterest. Check them out! They all look fun and pretty easy to do together or as a center activity kids can do on their own. This website has posters and definitions of all the 3D shapes at Teaching Ideas.
| Another great matching activity for 3D solid shapes can be downloaded and printed from Learning With a Happy Heart’s blog. I love this as a fast finisher because it is easy but a little time consuming. |
IPAD GAME IDEA!
A fun online game called SHAPES SHOOT is a great ipad center game kids could play the week you are doing 3D shapes. Check it out at sheppardsoftware.com. And you can always do geoboards to remind kids about the 2D shapes and review all the vocabulary.
The last thing I do to teach 3D shapes is a writing activity. We write on the board; I once was a ______ but now I’m a ________ at a______________. The kids have to put in flat or plane shapes in the first spot, the 3D shape name in the 2nd spot and a place where you might find that shape in real life. Then they illustrate the page. So it might say; I once was a circle but now I’m a cylinder shape on a can of green beans on the dinner table. The little mini books have about 7 pages and turn out pretty cute. 