What if you couldn't see a 3D shape?

Class One have been consolidating (and checking) understanding of 3D shapes and their properties this week with a blindfold challenge. 

Before Christmas they learned about Three Dimensional (3D) shapes and worked as Santa's little helpers in our Grotto wrapping a wide range of different shaped boxes before putting them in Santa's sack.

There was lots of fabulous discussion about the number of faces on the shapes, the shapes of the faces and if they were curved or flat. They used what they already knew about Two Dimensional (2D) shapes to help with their descriptions.

This week I asked ‘What if we couldn’t see a 3D shape?’ 

We discussed our five senses and decided that our sense of touch might be the most effective one to use if we couldn’t see a 3D shape. Once the investigation was set we hid 3D shapes in play dough before the children worked with a friend (and a blindfold) to see if they could work out which shape they were feeling as they squished it out of the dough. They had the opportunity to work independently and practise before I sat with them so they could impress me with their knowledge. It was great fun and also produced some fabulous mathematical language. I was very impressed by how much the children had remembered about the properties of 3D shapes (cone, cylinder, cube, cuboid and sphere) from before the holidays and I was equally impressed by the sensible and thoughtful way they shared the challenge and worked with their friends.

I prompted the children to describe what they could feel and asked them how they knew what the shape was.

Cylinder – “I feeled the curve.”

Cube – “I think cuboid...No it’s a cube! It doesn’t have any longer bits. They’re all squares.”

Cylinder - “I feeled the two sides and they were circles.”

Cone - “I feeled the pointy bit.”

Cuboid - “Because it had very pulled sides.”

“A  cylinder!”

“A cube!”

“A cuboid!”
“A cone! Because I feeled the point.”

Sphere - “It moved around by itself. It’s so bendy and round.”

Cube - “Easy a cube.”

Cube - “Because I feeled all its corners.”

Cuboid - “I thought it was a cuboid but it was a cylinder, silly me!”

Cone - “I knew because I feeled the circle at the bottom and the point.”

Cuboid - “I just knew it.”

Sphere - “I knew it was because I heard it roll on the table when it escaped.”

Cone - “Because I feeled the edge and it felt smooth like a circle but then a point.”

Cuboid - “Becasue it’s a little bit longer than a cube.”

Cylinder - “A cylinder!”

“A Cube... It’s got squares.”

Cone - “Because I put my finger on the pointy bit.”

“A cuboid because it’s stretched.”

Cone - “It’s got a sharp bit.”

Cuboid - “Cube!... No cuboid... Yes! It’s stretched so some sides are long.”

Cylinder - “Becasue  I feeled that it has a curved face, a curved middle and two circles on the end.”

Cube - “It’s a square.” (I reminded him it was a 3D shape) “A cube because it’s not stretchy.”

Sphere - “Why is it rolling away?... It’s a ball! ... A sofia (sphere).”

Sphere - “Because it’s got round balls.”

Cuboid - “There’s a rectangle.”

“A cone!”

Cylinder - “Because it’s curved.”

Cube - “Because it was a square and a cuboid is stretchy.” (we talked about rectangles)

Cylinder - “This feels like a square again. No! It feels like a cylinder. Three faces!”

Cube - “I thought it was because I knowed it had six sides and I didn’t feel it was so long to be a cuboid.”

Cuboid - “It feels like a square. (took his blindfold off) Oh! A cuboid! I didn’t feel all of it.”

“Hey! I didn’t get a cone or a sphere! Can I go again?”

“A cube... No a cuboid because it’s longer.”

Sphere - “ Just one face all around.”

Cube - “I counted the sides in my hand...6!”

Cylinder - “It had a curve and I knowed it was not a sphere.”

Cuboid - “Because it was a bit longer. At first I thought it was a cube but it was different and only two sides were like a square.”

Cube - “It has six sides (faces)”

Cylinder - “Because it has two circles and I remembered.”

Sphere - “It’s a sofia (sphere) I feeled the circle.”

Cuboid -  “I just knew.”

“That’s a cube.”

“That’s a sofia (sphere).”

“That’s a cuboid.”

“That’s a cylinder” – “Because it was round and circles at the ends.”

“That’s a cone”- “Because it has a point.”

All the shape names shown above were correctly named by the children.

We also talked later about the word ‘felt’ (instead of feeled) and we will re-visit this at a later time!

Fabulous work Class One!