Transum Maths Software

Three Dimensional Shape Activities

There are 366 different Starters of The Day, many to choose from. You will find in the left column below some starters on the topic of Shape (3D). In the right column below are links to related online activities, videos and teacher resources.

A lesson starter does not have to be on the same topic as the main part of the lesson or the topic of the previous lesson. It is often very useful to revise or explore other concepts by using a starter based on a totally different area of Mathematics.

Main Page

Shape (3D) Starters:

Dice Nets: Determine whether the given nets would fold to produce a dice.

Dice Reflections: A dice is reflected in two mirrors. What numbers can be seen?

Faces and Edges: Find the number of faces, edges and vertices on some familiar objects.

Icosahedron: How many triangles are there on the surface of a regular icosahedron.

 

Small images of these Starters ::  Index of Starters


Shape (3D) Advanced Starters:

Rosie's Cube: How many of the small cubes does Rosie need to complete the big cube?

Sphere Hole: Find the volume of the remaining part of a sphere after a 10cm cylindrical hole has been drilled through it.

Index of Advanced Starters


Suggested

Drawing 3D Objects

Drawing 3D Objects

Draw two-dimensional representations of three-dimensional objects on an isometric dotty grid.

The short web address is:

Transum.org/go/?to=draw3d

 

Curriculum for Shape (3D):

Year 5

Pupils should be taught to identify 3-D shapes, including cubes and other cuboids, from 2-D representations more...

Pupils should be taught to estimate volume [for example, using 1 cm3 blocks to build cuboids (including cubes)] and capacity [for example, using water] more...

Year 6

Pupils should be taught to recognise, describe and build simple 3-D shapes, including making nets more...

Pupils should be taught to recognise when it is possible to use formulae for area and volume of shapes more...

Pupils should be taught to calculate, estimate and compare volume of cubes and cuboids using standard units, including cubic centimetres and cubic metres, and extending to other units more...

Years 7 to 9

Pupils should be taught to derive and apply formulae to calculate and solve problems involving: perimeter and area of triangles, parallelograms, trapezia, volume of cuboids (including cubes) and other prisms (including cylinders) more...

Pupils should be taught to use the properties of faces, surfaces, edges and vertices of cubes, cuboids, prisms, cylinders, pyramids, cones and spheres to solve problems in 3-D more...

Years 10 and 11

Pupils should be taught to construct and interpret plans and elevations of 3D shapes more...

Pupils should be taught to calculate surface areas and volumes of spheres, pyramids, cones and composite solids more...

Pupils should be taught to apply Pythagoras’ Theorem and trigonometric ratios to find angles and lengths in right-angled triangles {and, where possible, general triangles} in 2 {and 3} dimensional figures more...

Exam-Style Questions:

There are almost a thousand exam-style questions unique to the Transum website.

Feedback:

Comment recorded on the 24 May 'Starter of the Day' page by Ruth Seward, Hagley Park Sports College:

"Find the starters wonderful; students enjoy them and often want to use the idea generated by the starter in other parts of the lesson. Keep up the good work"

Comment recorded on the 11 January 'Starter of the Day' page by S Johnson, The King John School:

"We recently had an afternoon on accelerated learning.This linked really well and prompted a discussion about learning styles and short term memory."

Comment recorded on the 5 April 'Starter of the Day' page by Mr Stoner, St George's College of Technology:

"This resource has made a great deal of difference to the standard of starters for all of our lessons. Thank you for being so creative and imaginative."

Comment recorded on the 7 December 'Starter of the Day' page by Cathryn Aldridge, Pells Primary:

"I use Starter of the Day as a registration and warm-up activity for my Year 6 class. The range of questioning provided is excellent as are some of the images.
I rate this site as a 5!"

Comment recorded on the 12 July 'Starter of the Day' page by Miss J Key, Farlingaye High School, Suffolk:

"Thanks very much for this one. We developed it into a whole lesson and I borrowed some hats from the drama department to add to the fun!"

Comment recorded on the 10 April 'Starter of the Day' page by Mike Sendrove, Salt Grammar School, UK.:

"A really useful set of resources - thanks. Is the collection available on CD? Are solutions available?"

Comment recorded on the 28 September 'Starter of the Day' page by Malcolm P, Dorset:

"A set of real life savers!!
Keep it up and thank you!"

Comment recorded on the 9 April 'Starter of the Day' page by Jan, South Canterbury:

"Thank you for sharing such a great resource. I was about to try and get together a bank of starters but time is always required elsewhere, so thank you."

Comment recorded on the s /Indice 'Starter of the Day' page by Busolla, Australia:

"Thank you very much for providing these resources for free for teachers and students. It has been engaging for the students - all trying to reach their highest level and competing with their peers while also learning. Thank you very much!"

Comment recorded on the 18 September 'Starter of the Day' page by Mrs. Peacock, Downe House School and Kennet School:

"My year 8's absolutely loved the "Separated Twins" starter. I set it as an optional piece of work for my year 11's over a weekend and one girl came up with 3 independant solutions."

Comment recorded on the 2 April 'Starter of the Day' page by Mrs Wilshaw, Dunsten Collage,Essex:

"This website was brilliant. My class and I really enjoy doing the activites."

Comment recorded on the 25 June 'Starter of the Day' page by Inger.kisby@herts and essex.herts.sch.uk, :

"We all love your starters. It is so good to have such a collection. We use them for all age groups and abilities. Have particularly enjoyed KIM's game, as we have not used that for Mathematics before. Keep up the good work and thank you very much
Best wishes from Inger Kisby"

Comment recorded on the 28 May 'Starter of the Day' page by L Smith, Colwyn Bay:

"An absolutely brilliant resource. Only recently been discovered but is used daily with all my classes. It is particularly useful when things can be saved for further use. Thank you!"

Comment recorded on the 14 September 'Starter of the Day' page by Trish Bailey, Kingstone School:

"This is a great memory aid which could be used for formulae or key facts etc - in any subject area. The PICTURE is such an aid to remembering where each number or group of numbers is - my pupils love it!
Thanks"

Comment recorded on the 1 May 'Starter of the Day' page by Phil Anthony, Head of Maths, Stourport High School:

"What a brilliant website. We have just started to use the 'starter-of-the-day' in our yr9 lessons to try them out before we change from a high school to a secondary school in September. This is one of the best resources on-line we have found. The kids and staff love it. Well done an thank you very much for making my maths lessons more interesting and fun."

Comment recorded on the 19 June 'Starter of the Day' page by Nikki Jordan, Braunton School, Devon:

"Excellent. Thank you very much for a fabulous set of starters. I use the 'weekenders' if the daily ones are not quite what I want. Brilliant and much appreciated."

Comment recorded on the 21 October 'Starter of the Day' page by Mr Trainor And His P7 Class(All Girls), Mercy Primary School, Belfast:

"My Primary 7 class in Mercy Primary school, Belfast, look forward to your mental maths starters every morning. The variety of material is interesting and exciting and always engages the teacher and pupils. Keep them coming please."

Comment recorded on the 9 October 'Starter of the Day' page by Mr Jones, Wales:

"I think that having a starter of the day helps improve maths in general. My pupils say they love them!!!"

Comment recorded on the 19 October 'Starter of the Day' page by E Pollard, Huddersfield:

"I used this with my bottom set in year 9. To engage them I used their name and favorite football team (or pop group) instead of the school name. For homework, I asked each student to find a definition for the key words they had been given (once they had fun trying to guess the answer) and they presented their findings to the rest of the class the following day. They felt really special because the key words came from their own personal information."

Comment recorded on the 17 November 'Starter of the Day' page by Amy Thay, Coventry:

"Thank you so much for your wonderful site. I have so much material to use in class and inspire me to try something a little different more often. I am going to show my maths department your website and encourage them to use it too. How lovely that you have compiled such a great resource to help teachers and pupils.
Thanks again"

Comment recorded on the 26 March 'Starter of the Day' page by Julie Reakes, The English College, Dubai:

"It's great to have a starter that's timed and focuses the attention of everyone fully. I told them in advance I would do 10 then record their percentages."

Comment recorded on the 3 October 'Starter of the Day' page by Fiona Bray, Cams Hill School:

"This is an excellent website. We all often use the starters as the pupils come in the door and get settled as we take the register."

Comment recorded on the 3 October 'Starter of the Day' page by Mrs Johnstone, 7Je:

"I think this is a brilliant website as all the students enjoy doing the puzzles and it is a brilliant way to start a lesson."

Comment recorded on the 10 September 'Starter of the Day' page by Carol, Sheffield PArk Academy:

"3 NQTs in the department, I'm new subject leader in this new academy - Starters R Great!! Lovely resource for stimulating learning and getting eveyone off to a good start. Thank you!!"

Comment recorded on the 9 May 'Starter of the Day' page by Liz, Kuwait:

"I would like to thank you for the excellent resources which I used every day. My students would often turn up early to tackle the starter of the day as there were stamps for the first 5 finishers. We also had a lot of fun with the fun maths. All in all your resources provoked discussion and the students had a lot of fun."

Comment recorded on the 6 May 'Starter of the Day' page by Natalie, London:

"I am thankful for providing such wonderful starters. They are of immence help and the students enjoy them very much. These starters have saved my time and have made my lessons enjoyable."

Comment recorded on the 1 February 'Starter of the Day' page by Terry Shaw, Beaulieu Convent School:

"Really good site. Lots of good ideas for starters. Use it most of the time in KS3."

Comment recorded on the 16 March 'Starter of the Day' page by Mrs A Milton, Ysgol Ardudwy:

"I have used your starters for 3 years now and would not have a lesson without one! Fantastic way to engage the pupils at the start of a lesson."

Comment recorded on the 2 May 'Starter of the Day' page by Angela Lowry, :

"I think these are great! So useful and handy, the children love them.
Could we have some on angles too please?"

Comment recorded on the 19 November 'Starter of the Day' page by Lesley Sewell, Ysgol Aberconwy, Wales:

"A Maths colleague introduced me to your web site and I love to use it. The questions are so varied I can use them with all of my classes, I even let year 13 have a go at some of them. I like being able to access Starters for the whole month so I can use favourites with classes I see at different times of the week. Thanks."

Notes:

A particular skill is required to be able to excel in this area of Mathematics. Spatial awareness is important for solving multi-step problems that arise in areas such as architecture, engineering, science, art, games, and everyday life. Children have varying abilities visualizing three dimensional relationships but these abilities can be developed through practical activities and working through mathematical problems. Breaking down three dimensional situations into smaller two dimensional parts in an important strategy for problem solving.

See also the "Shape" Starters.

Shape (3D) Teacher Resources:

Cube Construction: This is a simple interactive that does nothing more than allow you to create 3D drawings of models made with cubes.

The Great Dodecahedron: Pupils are not allowed to use their hands to point but must describe fully any shapes they can see in this picture.

3D Trigonometry Presentation: A slide presentation (a poem) introducing using trigonometry (including Pythagoras' Theorem) to find lengths and angles on three dimensional shapes.

Shape (3D) Activities:

Drawing 3D Objects: Draw two-dimensional representations of three-dimensional objects on an isometric dotty grid.

Volume: Use formulae to solve problems involving the volumes of cuboids, cones, pyramids, prisms and composite solids.

Net or Not: Drag the nets into the corresponding panels to show whether they would fold to form a cube.

Dice Net Challenge: Drag the numbers onto the net so that when it is folded to form a cube numbers on opposite faces add up to prime numbers.

Cube Face Meetings: Visualise the cubes formed by the nets and paint the three faces meeting at a vertex.

Cubical Net Challenge: Find all the ways of painting the faces of cubes using only two colours.

Coloured Cube 3D: Colour in the remaining faces of the nets of the cubes to match the rotating three-dimensional picture.

Plans and Elevations: Interpret plans and elevations of three dimensional shapes.

Volume Equals Surface Area: Find the cuboids with integer side lengths where the volume is numerically equal to the surface area.

The Great Dodecahedron: Pupils are not allowed to use their hands to point but must describe fully any shapes they can see in this picture.

Puzzle Cube Net: A jumbled moving-block puzzle cube is shown as a net. Can you solve it?

Trigonometry in 3D: Calculate the lengths of sides and the size of angles in three dimensional shapes.

Faces, Edges and Vertices: Calculate the number of faces, edges and vertices on 3D Shapes.

Platonic Solids: Identify the names, nets and features of the five regular polyhedra.

Similar Shapes: Questions about the scale factors of lengths, areas and volumes of similar shapes.

Cylinders: Apply formulae for the volumes and surface areas of cylinders to answer a wide variety of questions

Surface Area: Work out the surface areas of common solid shapes in this collection of exercises.

Yes No Questions: A game to determine the mathematical item by asking questions that can only be answered yes or no.

Finally there is Topic Test, a set of 10 randomly chosen, multiple choice questions suggested by people from around the world.

Shape (3D) Investigations:

Maxvoltray: Find the maximum volume of a tray made from an A4 sheet of paper. A practical mathematical investigation.


Featured Investigations

Painted Cube: The classic Painted Cube investigation. How many faces of the smaller cubes are painted blue?

Shape (3D) Videos:

Shape (3D) video
Transum's Shape (3D) Video


Volume Video: There are simple formulas that can be used to find the volumes of basic three-dimensional shapes.

Platonic Solids Video: What are platonic solids and why are there only five of them?

Surface Area Video: Finding the surface are of three dimensional shapes can involve some interesting formulae.

Three Dimensional Trigonometry Video: When you have mastered trigonometry in two dimensions it is time to practise solving three-dimensional problems.

Tetrahedron and Pyramid: A tetrahedron and a pyramid have edges of equal length. If they are glued together on a triangular face with the vertices aligned, how many faces will the new shape have?

Shape (3D) Worksheets/Printables:

Net or Not Printable: A printable series of sheets to support the 'Not or Not' challenges and Starter.

Dodecahedron Calendar: The net of a dodecahedron with this year's calendar printed on its faces.

Cube Calendar Nets: Printable nets for a desk calendar which show the day of the month.

Shape (3D) External Links:

Links to other websites containing resources for Shape (3D) are provided for those logged into 'Transum Mathematics'. Subscribing also opens up the opportunity for you to add your own links to this panel. You can sign up using one of the buttons below:

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Suggested

Yes No Questions

Yes No Questions

A game to determine the mathematical item by asking questions that can only be answered yes or no.

The short web address is:

Transum.org/go/?to=yesno

 

Teaching Notes:

Many Transum activities have notes for teachers suggesting teaching methods and highlighting common misconceptions. There are also solutions to puzzles, exercises and activities available on the web pages when you are signed in to your Transum subscription account. If you do not yet have an account and you are a teacher, tutor or parent you can apply for one by completing the form on the Sign Up page.

A Transum subscription also gives you access to the 'Class Admin' student management system, downloadable worksheets, many more teaching resources and opens up ad-free access to the Transum website for you and your pupils.

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