Year 3 focus on 3D shapes

In Maths this week, Year 3 have continued with their shape work. This time, they have been focusing on naming 3D shapes and recognising these shapes in different orientations. The children have particularly enjoyed making a variety of 3D shapes out of plasticine. They then had to name the shape and describe its properties using vocabulary such as: faces, vertices and edges.

The children have also enjoyed playing a variety of online games to consolidate their understanding of these features. In addition to this, they have used feely bags to describe different aspects of the shape that they could feel. If they used enough accurate description, their partner was able to guess the shape. You may wish to play ‘What shape am I?’ by describing the properties of a 3D shape and seeing whether your child can guess the shape you are thinking of. Here is an example from Emilia (3CO):

“My shape has 12 edges, 6 faces and 8 vertices. All of its faces are the same, regular shape”.

Your child may also wish to go on a hunt for various objects around the house to investigate 3D shape nets. Can they identify the 3D shape of some packaging? Can they predict what the net of that shape will look like?