From the apple on your desk and the coffee cup in your hand, to the cabinets along the classroom wall, basic three-dimensional shapes are found everywhere in the world around us. Introduce young mathematicians to the these common figures...

Expose youngsters to 3-D objects in a hands-on learning activity involving marshmallows and toothpicks. Engage your young mathematicians by introducing them to 3-D shapes by means of a story book. Explore 3-D shapes by manipulating...

Geometers construct a mobile or ornament using nets of three-dimensional polyhedrons. Not only do they need to compute the volume and surface area of each figure, they also earn points for creativity, neatness, and more!

Potty humor is always a big hit with the school-age crowd, and potty algebra takes this topic to a whole new level. Here the class develops a model that connects the dimensions (radii, paper thickness, and length of paper) of a...

Farming is full of mathematics, and it provides numerous real-world examples for young mathematicians to study. Here, we look at a cylinder-shaped storage silo that has one flat side. Given certain dimensions, students need to determine...

Have your class use compasses to try to find the magnetic field around an electric current. Groups use the same technique to visualize magnetic fields as they did in the second activity in the series, but this time, the field is...

The objective of this activity is to find the percent of the area of a two squares overlapping. Mathematicians find the ratio of area for the part that overlaps to the rectangle formed. The final answer is a percent as a rate per 100....

Buying a new sofa? Learn how to use the Pythagorean Theorem, as well as algebra and graphing techniques, to determine whether the sofa will fit around a corner (which I'm sure you'll agree is a very important consideration!).

Individuals discover how to draw cubes on triangle-dot paper. They use cubes to build structures and draw corresponding isometric drawings on dot paper in the second lesson of the series of five. The activity also introduces the concept...

Did you know that two-dimensional shapes are also called polygons? This lesson describes the various 2-D shapes and includes two interactive games to reinforce skills.

This lesson offers an interesting, hands-on experience for middle school students studying cylinders. Students will create cylinders, and measure and compare their volumes.

Use this lesson plan to help students learn about cylinders. Students will be creating cylinders, and comparing them and their capacity. This engaging, hands-on lesson will hold student interest and be very beneficial to student learning.

Is seeing believing? Explore visualizing and spatial reasoning with three dimensional shapes in this challenge from the NCTM Math Challenge for Families collection. Discover why visualization is essential skill in real world situations.

A math challenge where geometry, measurement, and problem solving meet. Explore the properties of three dimensional shapes when you discover how six friends can equally divide a nine inch square chocolate cake. A one page activity from...

Predict which solid shape constructions would be unstable as shown at this one page website. Solutions are available right at the website.

Use the shapes provided and figure out how they fit together to make a 3 X 3 cube at this one page website. The solution is readily available right at the website.

Can you judge an object by its shadow? Use your mental rotation skills to determine if a shadow can be produced by a particular shape.

Geometry is the study of how to use math to describe and investigate different points, lines and shapes. The way that a shape is described in geometry is with a formula, which is simply a mathematical way to calculate different...

Work with this cube problem and see if you can find a pattern. Then you can check your solution with solutions already submitted.

Print out these colorfully illustrated PDF file pages to practice learning your basic three dimensional geometric solids. Fold them in half and one side shows the shape while the other side shows the shape with the correct name. Put them...

On this one page website sharpen your logic, geometry, spatial thinking, and problem solving skills while working on this challenge. The solution is available to double check your solution.

Excellent interactive challenge working with cube nets to stack them in a specific order. Manipulate the cubes online to solve the problem.

At this one page web site see if you can solve this puzzle involving the edges of an octahedron. You will definitely need to use your problem solving and spatial reasoning skills for this!

Sharpen your logic and and pattern recognition skills with this four triangles puzzle. The solution is available to check your work.