Around the Kampfire

Elementary Teaching Blog

  • Home
  • About
  • Blog
  • My Classroom
  • Shop
  • Contact

Fun Ways to Teach 2D and 3D Shapes

January 19 By Linda Kamp 15 Comments

Are you looking for fun and creative ways to teach shapes? These 2D and 3D shapes activities will send your engagement factor soaring as your students learn, sing, and write about 2D and 3D shapes and their attributes.

2D & 3D shapes activities for 1st and 2nd gradee

Shapes and geometry… two of my favorite math units to teach.  There are so many creative ways to teach about shapes, and let’s face it, it’s a whole lot more FUN than teaching primary students to  decompose, regroup, and subtract across zeros! Read on for lesson ideas and see how I sent my kids over the top by changing the words to a viral video, What Does the Fox Say?.

Get students up and moving

 Get your students up, moving and dancing to What Does the Fox Say? But change the words to What does the SHAPE say! to the delight of my class I used this video to introduce our unit.

What does the fox say video

You can find a kid-friendly Just Dance version  on YouTube.

Use an Anchor Chart as a Game Board

Create an interactive What Does the SHAPE Say? anchor chart that serves as a lesson visual AND a game board. You can easily adapt it to teach plan or solid shapes and their attributes.

What does the shape say? 2D 3D shapes anchor chart.

We use the chart parts to also play a whole group version of I Have, Who Has for students to identify shapes and their attributes.

What does the shape say 2D 3D shapes math game

As students match the shape words to the speech bubbles describing the attributes they place them on the class chart.

shapes anchor chart

I don’t laminate the chart and use removeable glue sticks to turn each piece into a reusable sticky note. I make extras of the chart parts for small group games and math centers.

Include Fun Read Alouds

The Perfect Square by Michael Hall is one of my favorite read alouds to use. All of his books are creative gems with surprises on each page. The Greedy Triangle is an oldie but goodie and a fun book to use to add a STEM element to your unit. We use this one on Family Math Night and have students to build structures with toothpicks and marshmallows.

Favorite Books For Teaching About Shapes
Find the books on Amazon:  Note: As an Amazon Associate I earn a small amount from qualifying purchases.
Super Heroes Colors, Shapes and More
The Greedy Triangle
Magic Shapes
If I Were A Quadrilateral
Perfect Square 
If I Were A Polygon

Practice ELA Skills Using Math Content

Use these shape booklets for students to describe the attributes of  2D or 3D shapes from the shape’s point of view. Students practice the correct use of quotation marks and writing dialogue as they describe the attributes of each shape. As they write, students also use their  math vocabulary as they “speak” for each shape.
Attributes of 2D and 3D shapes worksheets booklets. What does the Shape say?
Shapes Booklet source

 

Depending on your grade level you can easily differentiate by choosing the vocabulary, length, and complexity of your students’ writing.

Get Students Writing About Math

Take writing about math a step further and make a fox shape craft. Display a sentence frame and model for students how to write dialogue that speaks for the shape. Older students can generate the dialogue themselves.

2D 3D shapes math craft
craft source

The shape crafts make colorful math bulletin boards that are a fun way to show what your students are learning.

Play Digital Games

I recently added free digital versions of all of the games. These are ideal for students to practice on devices!

Both 2D and 3D digital shapes games are included.

Animate Your Writing Using ChatterPix

Use the  Chatter PIX app to give a voice to your learning!  It’s so simple to use and literally takes seconds to complete.

Animate math crafts for students to tell what they know. See how we turned ours into a class math movie!
Each child takes a picture of their craft using the app on an iPad then follows these simple steps to record their voice.
Animate math crafts for students to tell what they know. See how we turned ours into a class math movie!

All it takes is a little talking mouth to send the engagement factor SOARING!

Turn Your Talking Shapes Into a Class Math Movie

After animating everyone’s shape crafts with Chatter Pix we turned them into our very own math movie.

My class flipped over this! We played our movie at our Spring open house to the absolute delight of our parents!  Watch Our What Does the Shape Say? Class Video on YouTube.
To make the movie I saved each student’s work from Chatter PIX in Dropbox then uploaded them into iMovie. You can then add a title and select from  their music library or even add your own song. We used the karaoke version of  What Does the Fox Say? that I purchased on iTunes.

Try Some Munchie Math with Shapes

Incorporate edible activities during your shapes unit with munchie math. Use a variety of shaped crackers for sorting by number of sides  and vertices and use this Free Munchie Math Printable for students to identify the name and attributes of shapes.
Free shapes printable for munchie math and learning shapes and their attributes.

Check the dollar store first when looking for crackers.  They almost always have all the shapes you’ll need.

Quote Quadrilaterals

The year before we did a variation on our fox crafts by quoting quadrilaterals. Literally no prep, students draw a quadrilateral on construction paper, cut it out, and add wiggly eyes.  They then use quotation marks to quote the quadrilateral!

Quadrilateral quotes 2D 3D shapes craft ideas

Quadrilateral quotes 2D 3D shapes math craft

These 2D and 3D shapes activities have been a huge hit in my classroom. I love that they are interactive, easy to differentiate, incorporate writing and ELA skills, and are just plain fun.

2D and 3D Shapes Activities & math centers

Click here for the What Does the Shape Say? math resource.

I hope you’ve found ideas you can use in your classroom! Be sure to pin this for later so you have it when  you plan!

Visit these posts for more math ideas:

Do your students struggle with telling time past the hour? Try these 3 simple strategies and FREE math games to try them with your students. Learn Easy Ways to Teach Kids to Tell Time Past the Hour. 

 

Teaching kids to tell time past the hour can be challenging but it doesn’t have to be a struggle for you or your students. Learn simple ways you can make telling time so much easier for your 1st, 2nd, and 3rd graders that make telling time more concrete and fun! These teaching ideas and FREE telling time games and activities are ideal for teachers and homeschool parents of first, second and third graders.

Our shapes unit was such a hit I made a similar one for teaching time to the hour/half hour, quarter hour and nearest 5 minutes. CLICK HERE for fun ways to teach time.

Fun activities that teach telling time to first, second, and even third graders. These hands-on activities make what can sometimes be a daunting task easy and fun! Students read and write the time with high engagement games and lessons centered around a popular song and telling time anchor chart. Ideal for teaching 1st, 2nd, and 3rd graders to tell time to the hour/half hour, quarter hour and to the minute. This post also includes a FREE telling time game for kids!

Happy teaching!

  • Related Posts:

    • 30 Weather and Climate Activities for 3rd Grade
      30 Weather and Climate Activities for 3rd Grade
    • 15 First Grade Shapes Activities You Haven’t Done Before
      15 First Grade Shapes Activities You Haven’t Done Before
    • Plant and Animal Interdependence Activities for 2nd Grade
      Plant and Animal Interdependence Activities for 2nd Grade

    Share this:

    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • Pinterest

    Filed Under: Math, Popular Posts Tagged With: anchor charts, ChatterPix, geometry, MATH, shapes

    Comments

    1. Denise Jarrell says

      January 19 at 11:33 am

      Love this..it's just what I need now to add some fun , technology and creativity to my lesson. Thanks!

      Reply
    2. Denise Jarrell says

      January 19 at 11:33 am

      Love this..it's just what I need now to add some fun , technology and creativity to my lesson. Thanks!

      Reply
    3. Linda says

      January 19 at 11:59 am

      I'm so glad you like it Denise! We had a blast with it and the possibilities are endless for what you can do with ChatterPix in the classrooom!

      Reply
    4. Linda says

      January 19 at 12:00 pm

      This comment has been removed by the author.

      Reply
    5. Positively Learning says

      April 19 at 7:11 am

      LOVE! I just pinned the read alouds and activity with crackers. This is our next unit – thanks for all the ideas 🙂 Jen

      Reply
    6. Deedee Wills says

      April 19 at 12:50 pm

      That cracker activity looks so fun… now I want crackers! I bet your class loved it! Thanks again for linking up.

      Mrs. Wills Kindergarten

      Reply
    7. Anna says

      June 3 at 11:27 am

      nice

      Reply
    8. Michelle A Ebers says

      April 4 at 7:50 pm

      I love this…I did it with my kidos and they were amazed. I have 1 question how did you put all your ChaterPix videos together with the background music? I’d like to present it to our PTO.

      Reply
      • Linda says

        April 5 at 7:13 am

        Hi Michelle,
        I’m so glad your class loved it! It is a blast for sure! To make our video, I saved all of the MP4s my kids made in ChatterPix to the camera roll on my iPad. I then uploaded all of those into iMovie. There, you can type in your title and either choose music from their library or go to iTunes and get music. It’s been a while since we made ours, but I think I purchased my music from iTunes. I used an instrumental version of What Does The Fox Say? You can then upload your music to iMove and that’s it!
        I hope this helps and that your class loves their movie. I think we must have watched ours a bazillion times! They loved it as a brain break and would dance to it!

        Thanks so much for asking!

        Linda

        Reply
      • Linda says

        April 25 at 7:07 am

        Hi Michelle,
        We put them all together using iMovie. You can choose music from the iMovie library to add to your video. I hope this helps!

        Reply
    9. Noelle says

      February 6 at 8:15 pm

      Hi Linda!

      I love how you did the Quote the Quadrilaterals activity! Can you give more detailed instructions on how you did that project? I was trying to figure out if there was paint involved or a certain kind of paint to make the shapes look the way they do.

      Thanks!

      Reply
      • Linda says

        February 10 at 7:46 am

        Hi Noelle!
        The quadrilaterals writing was super easy to do. Students used a black marker to draw a quadrilateral on construction paper. They cut those out and glued them on to another sheet of construction paper then drew hands and feet on the shapes. We added some wiggly eyes and that’s it! I drew a speech bubble, copied it and students used that to write their quotes.

        I hope this helps and your class has fun making quadrilateral quotes! Thanks so much for stopping by and for asking!
        Linda

        Reply
    10. Angela says

      May 17 at 8:38 am

      Wow! What a fun, exciting, and great way to help students learn. Hank you so much for sharing! I can’t wait to try it myself next school year!

      Reply
      • Linda says

        May 17 at 12:24 pm

        You’re welcome Angela! I’m so glad you found some ideas you like!

        Reply

    Leave a Reply Cancel reply

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

    Welcome!

    Welcome!

    Let’s Keep in Touch!

    • Bloglovin
    • Email
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest

    Science Planned for You

    science units for second grade

    Get Free Posters

    Free Science & Engineering practices posters article
    end of the school year countdown

    Join the Group

    office supplies facebook group announcement
    free grammar assessments

    Search By Subject

    Get Help Teaching Science

    states of matter books for kids

    18 Awesome States of Matter Books for Kids

    plant life cycle books for kids

    14 Best Plant Life Cycle Books for Kids

    books for teaching about the butterfly life cycle

    21 Butterfly Life Cycle Books For Kids

    landslide science experiment to teach fast Earth changes

    Landslide Science Experiment to Teach Fast Earth Changes

    Topographic map landforms activity

    Topographic Map Landforms Activity for Kids

    article on how to see a plant produce oxygen photosynthesis science experiment

    Breathing Leaves Photosynthesis Experiment for Kids

    Copyright © 2022 // Design by Laugh Eat Learn // Theme by Genesis Framework