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3-D Shapes
- Give each child a 3-D shape to hold.
- Display images of 3-D shapes on the interactive whiteboard OR stick 3-D shapes to the board using masking tape or sticky-tack.
- Display a 3 by 3 grid of different shapes (see download).
- Describe a shape by its position, e.g. It is above the black cuboid. OR It is beside the green cube.
- Any child holding the same shape as the one you are describing, should stand up, i.e. any child holding a cube would stand up if you made the first statement.
- Repeat, continuing to describe a shape on the grid with reference to its position.
Songs
The Grand Old Duke of York
Little Miss Muffet
Incey Wincey Spider
Half a pound of tuppenny rice. In this song, change the ‘on’ the table, to ‘under’ the table or to ‘beside’ the table, etc. Note up and down and in and out … what other position words could we use?
Story
Rosie’s Walk by Pat Hutchins
Little Star and other Shapes by J. Y. Quinn
Explore and play with 3-D shapes
Describing
- Tape a 3-D shape (cube, cuboid, cone, sphere, pyramid or cylinder) to a child’s back.
- Turn them round so that the class is looking at their back.
- Ask children to describe the shape WITHOUT using its name.
- Can the child guess what shape it is?
- Repeat with other shapes and other children.
Songs/Chants/Rhymes
Incey Wincey Spider. The classic song/nursery rhyme.
3-D shapes. A rhyme to support recognition of 3-D shapes all around us.
Stories
Walter’s Wonderful Web by Tim Hopgood
Mouse Shapes by Ellen Stoll Walsh (2-D shapes)
Round is a Tortilla: A Book of Shapes by Roseanne Thong (2-D shapes but shapes found in the environment that could be converted to 3-D shapes)
Captain Invincible and the Space Shapes by Stuart J Murphy (specific to 3-D shapes; you decide whether the storyline is appropriate)