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After learning about basic two-dimensional shapes, it can be tricky for young learners to think about three-dimensional shapes! It often takes multiple exposures to 3D shapes for students to master the names and attributes. These fun 3D shape activities for kindergarten are perfect for adding some variety to your math practice. You can use these activities to keep your students engaged in learning about 3D shapes!
As students learn about each individual 3D shape, you can have the information displayed on colorful 3D shape posters! Students will learn about the corners (or vertices) and faces of each shape, along with the name of the 3D shape. You can keep these posters on display throughout your 3D shapes unit so students can reference them like an anchor chart.
After learning about an individual 3D shape, they can complete a fun shape hunt! Students will be given a worksheet that has the name of one 3D shape, along with several different pictures of real-life items. Some of these items will be the correct shape and others will not. Students will examine the pictures and color the ones that are the correct shape.
One way to help students understand each 3D shape is for them to explore non-examples of the shape. You can start with a pocket chart sorting activity that can be completed as a class, during small group instruction, or even explored with partners or independently during math centers. Students will take turns choosing a card and will decide whether or not the shape on the card is the focus 3D shape.
After sorting 3D shapes on a pocket chart, students can then turn their attention to sorting 3D shapes on a written activity. Students will color, cut, and paste a variety of shapes into the correct column. This is a great way for students to practice recognizing individual 3D shapes!
Another fun way for students to apply their knowledge of a 3D shape is to complete a worksheet that summarizes the shape name and attributes. Students can practice tracing and writing the shape name, then draw a picture that shows a real-life object of that same shape. They can also complete a sentence frame to describe their object. Finally, your class can write how many faces and vertices are on the shape. This is a great activity to help reinforce shape names and attributes.
A great way to get students talking about 3D shapes is to have them wear a shape hat. Without fail, when a kindergarten student walks the halls or heads to the bus wearing a 3D shape hat, someone will ask them what’s on their head. Your student will be able to practice math vocabulary as they explain everything on the fun hat they created!
Each hat comes with a set of objects with examples and non-examples of the 3D shape. Students will determine which picture represents the 3D shape and glue those pictures on the band of the hat. There is also space for the student to write how many faces and vertices the shape has. Plus, students can also trace the 3D shape and shape name on the band of the hat.
After your class has had plenty of time to learn individual 3D shape names and attributes, they’ll be ready to put their knowledge together to complete fun activities! The first is a 3D shape flip book. After coloring all of the 3D shapes, students will paste the real-world example of each 3D shape under the flap. There will also be room to write the number of faces and vertices under each flap.
Your students will love to complete their own mini readers about real-world 3D shapes! On each page, students will glue the correct picture of the 3D shape at the top of the page, then draw a real-world object that matches the shape. There is also a sentence frame for students to complete a sentence about each real-world 3D shape!
Another fun printable book that students can complete is this 3D shapes reader. Each page has a line where students can write the name of the pictured shape. Students can also write the number of vertices and faces on each page. The students in your class will be so excited to take this reader home to share with their families!
A fun activity that helps students review everything they’ve learned about 3D shapes is this fishing game! Simply put paper clips on a set of 3D shape picture cards. After using a magnetic clip to “fish” for a card, students will add the picture to the correct column based on its shape. As they place the card in the correct column, they can practice saying the shape name. This is a great way to help students remember that important math vocabulary!
All of the activities pictured above can be found in my set of printable 3D shape activities for kindergarten. These hands-on activities will encourage your young learners to learn 3D shape names and attributes for cube, cone, cylinder, and sphere. After completing these activities, your students will be able to recognize and identify the 3D shapes all around them! These activities include options for both “vertices” or “corners” depending on the vocabulary you use in your curriculum.
If you’d like to take a closer look at everything included in this resource, you can find it in the A Spoonful of Learning shop or on TPT.
I hope that these activities will be a helpful addition to your 3D shape lesson plans! Be sure to save this post if you’d like to come back to it later. Just add the pin below to your favorite teaching board on Pinterest. That way, you’ll be able to quickly find these 3D shape activities whenever you need them!
These alphabet books will have students dive deep into learning about each letter of the alphabet while eager to see what activity they get to complete next!
