Recognise 3D Shapes in Everyday Objects

This activity is about identifying 3D shapes within everyday objects.  

 

Here, we have a sphere. A beach ball is also a sphere shape. 

 

      

 

We can recognise a sphere because it is a 3D circle. 

 

A sphere has just one face, it has no vertices and no edges! 

Let's remind ourselves what this means. 

 

A face is each flat part. The sphere just has one face covering the whole shape.

The edges are the parts where the faces join together - if there is only one face then there are no edges as there is nothing to join together! 

Vertices are corners - there are no corners on a sphere. 

 

Here, we have a pyramid. 

 

     

 

We can recognise a pyramid because it is a 3D triangle. 

 

This has 5 faces, 5 vertices (corners), and 8 edges. 

The faces are triangle-shaped and this shape has a square at the bottom of the shape. 

This type of pyramid is called a square-based pyramid. 

 

  

 

There are not many everyday objects that are a pyramid shape, but this Mayan structure is a pyramid shape.

 

 

 Here, we have a cube. Dice are also cube-shaped. 

 

        

 

We can recognise a cube because it is a 3D square. 

 

A cube has 6 faces, 12 edges, and 8 vertices. 

Let's have a look at what this means again. 

A face is each flat part. A cube only has square faces. 

The edges are the parts where the faces join together. 

Vertices are corners. 

 

  

 

Here, we have a cuboid.

This tissue box is also a cuboid shape. 

       

 

We can recognise a cuboid because it is a 3D rectangle. 

A cuboid also has 6 faces, 12 edges, and 8 vertices. 

 

The difference between a cuboid and a cube is that the cuboid is a mixture of rectangular-shaped faces and square faces, whereas a cube has all six faces that are squares. 

 

  

 

A cuboid could also have all rectangular faces like this:

 

  

 

Shall we have a go at some questions now?