5 Engaging Ways to Teach 2D and 3D Shapes in the Primary Classroom
Teaching 2D and 3D shapes and attributes in the primary classroom is a lot of fun. When it comes to math, this was usually a favored lesson among students! As a teacher, I love when students are excited to learn about a new topic, so why not play on that excitement with some engaging learning activities? Come along to see my top 5, favorite ways to teach 2D and 3D shapes to primary learners!
1. Introducing 2D and 3D Shapes with Books
What is any lesson without a powerful introduction? We all know that how we approach new topics makes all the difference in how our students perceive them. That being said, don’t miss out on a valuable opportunity to “set the stage” in a fun way here!
In my room, my favorite way to approach this topic was by relating it to real life. Shapes are easy to spot everywhere, so this exercise is a lot of fun! Try using some fun books to help students see that shapes can be found all over the place. Here are some of our favorites:
- National Geographic Kids Look and Learn: Shapes
- Shapes, Shapes Everywhere by Lenka Chytilova
- 3D Shapes by Marina Cohen
After reading a few books like these, your students will be spotting shapes all over the room, playground, and in the community. I like to play a game where I say a shape and ask the kids to find items in the room that are that shape. We sometimes even make an anchor chart with lists of items and simple drawings. It can also be fun for the kids to try their hand at drawing different shapes in a notebook as we discover them!
2. Digital Practice Activities for 2D and 3D Shapes
We live in a digital age there’s no denying the engagement and excitement that occurs when you mention digital activities to students. The game-like appeal of digital activities is perfect for teaching and practicing 2D and 3D shapes in the classroom. In my room, I often used digital activities like these to teach students about specific shape attributes and how to identify them.
Simply pop these slides up on the board and walk through them together for a simple and effective lesson. The shape sorting mats are especially helpful when first beginning to work with 2D and 3D shapes. I love that I can use these visual tools to help cement what we touched on in our read-aloud.
The best part about digital activities though is when students get to try their hand at them! They work beautifully for technology integration during center time, partner activities, and even independent learning. With these interactive activities, students will work on matching shapes, using descriptive clues to identify shapes, sorting shapes, and more. We always start out with 2D shapes and move onto the deck for 3D shapes when students are ready. If you’re new to using digital activities in the classroom, be sure to check out this post for all my best tips!
3. Using Hands-On Tools
While I love digital activities, you can’t teach in a primary classroom without including lots of hands-on activities. When understanding shapes, particularly 3D shapes, using some manipulatives is a great way to guide learning. I liked to use wooden blocks like these frequently in the classroom. They are great for introducing new shapes and having a concrete example. As we were learning new shape names, I would often pass these around the room for students to hold and examine. Just being able to physically hold something often helps trigger memory on what the shape is called and where students might find it in the real world.
I also like to include some STEM activities by providing students with toothpicks and playdough along with these blocks. They were challenged to use the playdough and toothpicks to build as many of the 3D shapes as they could. They did this by rolling the playdough into small balls and using it to hold the toothpicks in place. This activity really brought to life the attributes of the shapes. I usually paired students up for this and also had them draw the shapes and write their names as they built to get additional practice. This is a super fun activity that kids have loved year after year.
4. 2D and 3D Shapes Task Cards
In any classroom, practice is king when it comes to learning something new. Our job is to make practice engaging and fun! I have been able to do that with these 2D and 3D shapes task cards. They are bright and colorful and can be used in a variety of ways, making them perfect for continued practice that doesn’t get boring. They’re perfect for center time, independent practice, and the kids’ favorite – a whole class game of Scoot!
If you’ve never played Scoot! before, you’re in for a great surprise! It’s simple, fun for the kids, and gets them up and moving while practicing a specific skill. To play, simply lay one card down on each of the desks, provide each student with a recording sheet, and set a timer. They will complete the card in front of them and mark their answer down on their paper. When time is up, they “scoot” to the next one! I love using this game when students seem a bit restless and need a change of pace.
This resource includes 30 different task cards and 4 different recording sheets for 2D and 3D shapes. And as a bonus, there’s even a digital option included as well! The variety of ways to use these task cards makes them perfect for this topic which tends to need a lot of practice to fully master. Just laminate the cards and you’re ready to use them throughout the year to practice 2D and 3D shapes!
5. No-Prep Practice Pages
Last, but certainly not least – I had to add some engaging no-prep practice pages to this list! If you’re like me, you probably find yourself needing some “filler” activities to use during downtime in the classroom, for fast finishers, and even extra center options. Now, when I say filler, I don’t mean fluff. Every moment in the classroom is a valuable opportunity for learning, so any worksheets we use must be meaningful! These 2D and 3D Shapes Printables fit the bill! Inside, there are 25 different worksheets perfect for focusing on this topic in depth. Some of the included topics are:
- Attributes of 2D Shapes (Defining and Non-Defining)
- Attribute Match with 2D Shapes
- Identifying and Coloring Polygons
- Identifying and Coloring Quadrilaterals
- Attribute Match with 3D Shapes
- 3D Shapes Chart
- 3D Shapes in Real Life Sorts
and more! I love that I can use these worksheets as needed to work on a topic my students are struggling with as well. After a lesson on shapes, I would often pull a specific page out to practice what we learned. Having these on hand was a lifesaver when it came to making sure my students understood 2D and 3D shapes.
Simplify Your 2D and 3D Shapes Lessons
Teaching 2D and 3D shapes is a lot of fun with the right activities. Over the years, I discovered that using a blend of hands-on learning activities, great books on the topic, group activities, centers, games, and practice pages was a winning combo for any topic. This is absolutely true for 2D and 3D shapes as well! Switching things up keeps this topic engaging and fun, no matter how many times you practice!
If you’d like to simplify your lesson planning when it comes to this topic, be sure to check out the 2D and 3D Shapes and Attributes Activities Bundle for 1st Grade. Inside you’ll find the digital activities, task cards, and printables mentioned in this post. Pair these activities with some great read-alouds and hands-on learning tools and you’ve got a recipe for success! I know you and your students will have so much fun exploring this topic together!
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Check out these posts for more inspiration in your primary math lessons.
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