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...

When they do, they learn. Using this resource, young mathematicians learn about platonic solids by actually building, touching, and examining the shapes. They connect their observations about the shapes to Euler's formula.

Investigate the volume of irregular figures in an inquiry-based exercise. Presented with an irregularly shaped box filled with water, learners must predict the level of water when it is tipped on its side. The class can divide...

Learners are designing a stunning new water feature for an aquarium, but they soon discover that more than just a pretty home for their fishy friends is required.  From calculating the volume of a composite shape through the...

Mold your learners into materials engineers. Using glue, Borax, and water, scholars create a viscoelastic material. But your class might know it by another name—Silly Putty.

Whether you're using a collection of Dr. Seuss books to teach basic math skills like counting, adding, and subtracting, or exploring the different states of matter by melting a crayon with a hairdryer, a series...

Explore the properties of gases through one activity and two investigations in which super scientists observe the changes gas makes when encountering different conditions.

Score some problems all related to soccer balls. The first few problems focus on pattern blocks to see relationships between figures. More advanced problems focus on actual soccer balls, the patterns on the balls, and their volumes and...

Students make a comet out of corn syrup, ammonia, dirt, ice cream sticks, and more. In this comet lesson plan, students view how these ingredients turn from a solid to a gas.

Middle schoolers have a bushel of fun as they engage in activities and research core facts about apples. Packed with suggestions for in-class activities and out-of-class research, the colorful 6-page packet is sure to satisfy hungry...

Groups suspend objects within layers of liquids to determine the densities of different liquids and compare them to the densities of objects calculated in Part 1. The groups then carefully test their calculations by layering the...

The water cycle is one of earth's most easily observable processes, but demonstrating each step within classroom walls can be a challenge. Through a series of videos and quick demonstrations, cover each aspect of the hydrologic cycle in...

Make sound visible with an activity that provides directions for how to build a vocal visualizer meant to create light patterns. Making noise into the visualizer causes a mirror to vibrate, reflecting a laser beam, and creating...

Save yourself! Groups create a sturdy emergency shelter out of bamboo. The shelter must be large enough to fit one person. Now the most important question: Which member of the group gets to use the shelter in an emergency?

Help your class master the important concept of critical load. Pupils work together to build a structure using 12 playing cards. They test the critical load of the structure using pennies or paper clips.

Students complete a variety of activities to learn about crystals. In this crystals lesson plan, students paint with a crystal solution, pan for crystals, grow crystals, and more.

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

We are learning about how shape attributes helps us to see how shapes are alike and different. This site provides four resources for shapes including 3-D.

Learn about platonic solids, a special type of polyhedra. Read a definition, make three-dimensional models using printouts, and play with an interactive animation, which will show you the faces, vertices, and edges on platonic solids:...

Learn about several three-dimensional geometric shapes and the terminology used to describe them. Learn how to calculate their surface area and volume, and explore their mathematical properties.

This lesson describes three dimensional shapes and provides two interactive practice activities.

[Free Registration/Login Required] Students will click on the point of the word and drag it to the correct figure. Click challenge me to answer practice questions and click learn more to watch a video.

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...