Naming Three Dimensional Shapes (3–5 years)
Text on Screen 3 to 5 years old. Naming Three-Dimensional Shapes.
Logo: Count, play, explore – for early education.
Maritza Ceballos, PreK Educator: So we’ve been introducing the 3D shapes with some pictures, but it’s harder for them to see on the pictures, the 3D shapes. So we brought in the actual 3D shapes, and I introduced them with playing the activity of which-one's-missing. So they’re able to identify and start naming the 3D shapes.
On screen: In a preschool classroom, Maritza sits on the floor with a group of young children while holding a box containing a variety of three-dimensional wooden shapes.
Maritza: We’re going to play a game. So let me show you the shape first and tell you the name. So repeat with me.
On screen: Maritza reaches into the box and holds up a three-dimensional shape. Each time she says the name of the shape and the children repeat after her. Then she sets the shape down next to her before presenting another shape to the children.
Maritza: Cylinder.
Children: Cylinder.
Maritza: Pyramid.
Children: Pyramid.
Maritza: Cube.
Children: Cube. Square.
Maritza: It has squares, yeah. This is like a square. It feels flat.
On screen: As Maritza describes the difference between a square and a cube, she holds the cube in one hand while using the other to show the children that each side is like a square.
Maritza: But it’s a 3D shape called a cube.
Child: Because it has a new name.
Maritza: Yeah, it is a new name. We haven’t reviewed 3D shapes much.
On screen: Maritza sets the cube down next to her before picking up the cone and holding it up for the children to see.
Maritza: Cone
Children: Cone.
Maritza: You know why? Because it looks like a?
Children: An ice cream cone!
Maritza: An ice cream cone.
On screen: Maritza flips the cone so the flat side is facing up and mimics the gesture of licking an ice cream cone. Maritza sets it down and picks up the sphere.
Maritza: Oh, this one?
Child: It’s like outside.
Child: Ball.
Child: Sphere.
Child: Ice cream.
Maritza: Oh, this can be the little ice cream ball? This can be the ice cream ball. But ...
On screen: Maritza picks up the cone and holds the cone and sphere together to demonstrate how the shapes make an ice cream cone. She sets aside the cone and holds the sphere up again.
Child: It was sphere. It was sphere.
Maritza: Okay.
Children: Circle. Circle.
Maritza: Who said sphere?
On screen: Several of the children raise their hand.
Child: Me. I did!
Children: Sphere.
Maritza: Sphere! It’s also like a ball, right?
Child: Yeah.
Maritza: It’s like a ball.
Child: Basketball.
Maritza: Or if it was flat, it would be a circle. Look at the shapes.
On screen: Maritza holds the box upside down and places the cone, cube, and pyramid in a row on the flat surface. She holds the box up and points at each shape while saying the name. The children repeat after her.
Maritza: Pyramid.
Child: Triangle, sphere.
Maritza: Pyramid.
Children: Pyramid.
Maritza: Cube.
Children: Cube.
Maritza: Cone.
Children: Cone.
Maritza: All right. Close your eyes. Magic is going to happen back here. Close them; I see peeking. I see peeking over there.
On screen: While the children close their eyes, Maritza holds up a blue mat to hide the box from the children’s view. She removes the cube from the row of three-dimensional shapes. Maritza puts the mat down and holds the box up to display the two shapes.
Maritza: Okay. Open your eyes.
Child: It’s the sphere.
Child: Cube!
Maritza: The cube.
On screen: When the children identify that the cube is missing, Maritza points toward the children, indicating they got it right.
Text on Screen A special thanks to the children, families, and staff of the Fresno County Superintendent of Schools’ Lighthouse Development Center, without whose help these videos would not have been possible.
Logo: Count, play, explore – for early education.