LightMySky

3-D shapes

Recognise and name common 3-D shapes (cubes, cuboids, pyramids, spheres, cylinders, cones)

No account needed. Progress saves in this browser.

What a learner can do afterwards

  • Name a cube, sphere, cylinder, and cone when shown them
  • Identify 3-D shapes in the environment (e.g. a tin is a cylinder)
  • Recognise a cuboid and a pyramid among a set of solid shapes

The lesson

A 3-D shape is not flat. You can hold it and turn it around. It has sides, corners, or curves you can touch.

Try it together

A dice is a cube. It has six flat, square sides that look the same. A ball is a sphere. It is round all over, with no corners at all.

There are six 3-D shapes to know. They are cube, cuboid, pyramid, sphere, cylinder, and cone. A cuboid looks like a cube, but longer. Think of a cereal box or a shoe box. A pyramid has a flat bottom. It comes to one point at the top.

Tap each block and count out loud.
Good to know

Try the roll test. A ball and a tin can roll easily. A box cannot roll, because it has flat sides and corners. A cone can roll in a curvy circle.

Six shapes to spot: cube, cuboid, pyramid, sphere, cylinder, and cone.

Watch it

Where it sits

Where this leads

Jobs that lean on this skill. Follow one to see everything it is built on.

Then practise

8 questions wait behind this lesson, each with its answer explained. Every answer feeds the sky: stars light as they are learned, and dim when it is time to come back.

3-D shapes · Mathematics, ages 4 to 6 · LightMySky