Parent Guide

Identifying and describe the properties of

2D and 3D shapes
 Contents

Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4

The Common Asking Creative
Expectations Problems questions Maths
3 10 11 13

Chapter 5 Chapter 6
Motivating Resources
your child
15 17

2 Contents
 The Expectations

End of Year Expectations

The expectations are that your child should be able to identify and describe the
following shapes:

2D Shapes are 3D Shapes are

flat shapes solid shapes
Circle Cylinder
Square Cone
Rectangle Sphere
Triangle Cube
Pentagon Cuboid
Hexagon Pyramid
Octagon

3 The Expectations
 The Expectations

Parts of a 2D shape

They will need to be able to describe the shapes they see, in terms of how many
corners and sides it has and if the sides are straight or curved.

corner

Straight side

4 The Expectations
 The Expectations

Describing 2D Shapes

Square Rectangle Hexagon Pentagon

It has 4 straight It has 4 straight It has 6 straight It has 5 straight

sides sides sides
sides
It has 2 long sides It has 6 corners It has 5 corners
Each straight side
is the same length and 2 short sides It can come in a
It can come in a
variety of forms
It has 4 corners It has 4 corners variety of forms

Octagon Star Circle Triangle

It has 8 straight It has points It has one curved It has three

sides and 8 corners coming out of the side sides and three
centre corners
It can come in a
variety of forms

5 The Expectations
 The Expectations

Variety of forms

Remember, 2D shapes are identified by how many sides they have. The way they
look can vary.

All hexagons

All triangles
All octagons

6 The Expectations
 The Expectations

Parts of a 3D shape

They will need to be able to describe 3D shapes in terms of how many; faces, edges and corners it
has.

face
corner

edge

7 The Expectations
 The Expectations

Describing 3D Shapes

Sphere Cuboid
Cube Square
It has only one It has 6
based curved face rectangular
It has 6 pyramid faces.
square faces
all the same
size. It has 1 square
face and 4
It also has 8 triangular faces
Cone Cylinder
corners and 12
edges. It has a circle as It has 3 faces (2
its base, a curved flat and 1
face and a point. curved), 2 edges
and no corners.

8 The Expectations
 The Expectations

Understanding the Vocabulary

Vocabulary Definition
Flat A flat object has a level surface with no ups or downs.
Curved A line that is not straight or an object that is not flat.
Side A line in a 2D shape is called a side.
Straight A line or edge which has no curves is straight.
Corner Two or more edges or sides meet at a corner.
Face A face is a flat surface on a 3D shape. A pyramid has 5 faces.
Edge An edge is where 2 faces meet in a 3D shape.
Solid A solid shape has no space inside it.
Point A sharp part of a shape is a point. A pyramid is pointed at the top.

9 The Expectations
 Common Problems

Common Problems

As your child works understanding 2D and 3D shapes, they may encounter a few
common problems:

• Mixing up the names of 2D and 3D shapes.

• Not understanding that 2D shapes are flat and 3D shapes are solid.

• Seeing a net of a 3D shape in a picture and naming it as a 2D shape.

• Not understanding the vocabulary correctly and mixing up corners and edges.

• Not fully understanding what the properties of the 3D shapes mean when
describing them.

10 Common Problems
 Asking questions
Questions enable you and your child to find out what they
know and can guide you to identifying their next steps

What is the name How many corners How many sides

of a three sided does a hexagon does a circle have?
shape? have?

What is the difference between a

Explain what a pyramid is circle and a sphere?

How many squares can you see

in this room? How many edges does a cube
have? Name another shape
Show me a with the same amount.
cylinder/cone/cube/cuboid/pyramid

11 Asking questions

1
Ask these, when your child STARTS
their work
How are you going to tackle this problem?
What information do you have?
What do you need to find out?
What operations are you going to use (e.g. adding,
taking away)?
3 Ask these, WHILST your child is
working on a problem:
Talk me through what you have done so far
Why did you use that method?
What did you mean here?
Are you beginning to see a pattern or rule?
Do you think this would work with other numbers?
12 Asking questions
Asking Questions
2
Ask these, if your child gets
STUCK:
Tell me what the problem is
Can you talk me through what you have done so
far?
What did you do last time? What have you done
different this time?
What about putting things in order
Why not make a guess and check if it works?
Maybe a table, graph or picture might help?
4 Ask these, when your child has
FINISHED:
How did you get your answer?
Can you describe the method you used?
What could you try next?
How did you check it?
What have you learned today that you didn’t know
before?
Did you use any new words, from your word bank
today?
 Creative Maths
These lively games link directly to this objective and are designed to
improve your child’s maths in a fun and exciting way. For more ideas
visit our Pinterest Board.

Name my shape Feely bag

Pretend to be a shape – only giving your child This is a great game and one used in the
clues as to what you are. They then have to classroom each time shape in Year 1 is
guess, based on your description. taught.

Find some 3D (or 2D) objects in the

house. Put them into a coloured bag – so
Who am I? that you can’t see inside. Then ask your
child to put their hand inside the bag and
Act out the shapes with your child . . . Have describe what they can feel.
fun being a circle and rolling around the floor.
Does it have any flat sides?
Or pretending to be a square and linking arms Does it have any curved sides?
and legs together on the floor and taking a What is it?
picture.

13 Creative Maths
 Creative Maths

Shape Hunt
A work of art
Children love being detectives. Go on a shape
When you go on your ‘shape hunt’ – why
hunt around the house, spotting all the
not make a large collage of the items you
shapes you can see.
found.

Simply draw around them, cut them out

Make Note
Why not record all the shapes you see on a
table, or Venn diagram (see attached)?
Shape and data handling link together
beautifully.
and then create a collage.
Or build a 3D work of art.
Let your child play with the objects,
understanding the properties of the
shapes by feeling them and describing
them to you.

14 Creative Maths
 Motivating your child
To succeed – it is better to do a task little and often - quick thinking and
rapid feedback. Aim for 5-10 minutes, 3 – 4 times a week.
For more motivational ideas, visit our Pinterest Board.

I can . . . Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday

Spell new words

from the word
bank

Say what the new

maths words mean

Answer questions
on my worksheet
correctly

Talk about my
learning

Answer the
practice questions
correctly

15 Motivating your child

I can . . . Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday

16 Motivating your child

 Resources

WHAT EQUIPMENT DOES YOUR CHILD NEED?

Checklist:

- Pencils, sharpener and eraser.

- Wide spaced, good quality lined exercise book, so that you can see the progress
your child is making and make notes on areas they need to learn and practise.

- A quiet, well lit area to work in without distractions.

- If your child still needs a little extra help, please click here

17 Resources
 Resources

I CAN . . .

18 Resources
 Venn Diagram

19 Resources