Gamified 3D Object Unit Plan (With Assessment!)

Written by Emma (Teach Starter)

Updated 4 years ago | 3 min read

3D objects – they’re all around us! They surround us so much, in fact, that as adults we barely notice their existence! But it wasn’t always that way… at some point in the past, our teachers used a 3D object unit plan to teach us exactly what these fun objects were. And now it’s our job to do the same for our students!

Comparing 2D shapes and 3D objects on a poster can help students learn the concepts behind 3D objects… but, we thought you might be after something a little more exciting! Our awesomely amazing resource creator, Tom, has put together a curriculum-aligned, gamified maths unit to blow your students’ minds – and help them to remember 3D objects forever.

Shape Seekers 3D Object Unit Plan

The Shape Seekers Unit is an interactive, story-driven set of lessons where students help Professor Dede test an invention called “The Dimensionator”. This mysterious device, left to him by his grandmother, can turn 2D shapes into 3D objects!

Access Students’ Prior Knowledge

The story, activities and questions for this unit are all contained in the Shape Seekers PowerPoint. It is broken into easy to navigate chapters. This powerpoint is full of engaging animations to help students visualise the transformation process from 2D shape to 3D object.

The fun intro to this unit plan asks kids to access their prior knowledge of shapes and geometry. See what your students remember about 2D shapes and find out about their prior knowledge of 3D objects with a fun video. Then, scaffold this knowledge together with a comparison activity! Oh, and let’s not forget those hands-on objects. After all, you need to bring them in so that the machine can be calibrated!

Wrap up this part of the unit with some thought-provoking questions:

Out of the 3D objects types that were brought from home, which was the most common?
What are the main three features of a 3D object?
Are there any shortcuts you can use when determining the number of faces, corners or edges?

Learn to Classify Prisms

Help Professor Dede to operate his machine by answering questions about how many faces, vertices and edges particular 3D objects have.

Then, introduce the most fun hands-on activity ever! Provide your students with the Draw a Town with 2D Shapes resource. The best part is, this fun activity will be continued over the course of the unit. Each lesson presents your students with a set of clues to solve that lead to something mysterious!

For more info about this engaging activity, make sure to read Holly’s blog Three in One Geometry Fun (Build a Town Geometry Activity).

Get the Low Down on Pyramids and other 3D Objects

This awesome unit presents information to students in a fun, gamified way! Reward students with additional clues each time an object is created.

Learn how to translate numerous 2D shapes into 3D objects, starting with a simple square.

Then, once your students have mastered simple prisms and pyramids, they can move on to more unique 3D objects such as spheres, cylinders and dodecahedrons!

Don’t Forget 3D Objects Assessment!

It’s time to get hands-on with some model making! In this fun assessment, students will demonstrate their 3D model-making abilities, as well as their understanding of the features of 3D shapes.

The Assessment – 3D Object Profiles requires a bit of forethought, so make sure you read through it and gather all the necessary construction materials for your students beforehand.

As we said, this unit is perfect for differentiation!

As the Year 2 content descriptions from the Australian Curriculum don’t reference making models, there is an easy way to differentiate this assessment piece down.

Simply provide students with the 3D object picture cards from the Let’s Sort It! – 2D Shapes and 3D Objects Sorting Activity. Then, encourage your class to choose 3 objects and stick the pictures on the template page. To finish, they can describe the details for each object – simple!