Roll and Color 3D Shapes

My kids love dice games! Something about not knowing what they will roll is always so exciting.  Since our Roll and Color 2D Shape Game was such a hit, I decided to follow up with a 3D roll and color shapes version that would help them recognize and name three dimensional shapes too!

The printable game is great way to teach cubes, spheres, cylinders, prisms and cones in a small group or math center. Want more 3D shapes practice!? Head on over to our shop and check out our 3D Shapes Centers!

Getting Ready

Like the 2D version, this game is fairly simple to prepare. The dice takes just a few moments to make, and the recording sheet is easily printed and ready to go.

First, I printed the recording sheet (below) and copied enough of them so that each of my students would each have one.

Then, I printed the die and laminated it to keep it from ripping or denting too easily.

Depending on if you are using the game at home or in a classroom, you may want to print multiple copies of the die so that several groups of students could play at the same time.

Finally, I folded the die on the dotted lines and taped the edges to create a cube. No need to get too fancy – clear tape works just fine!  We were ready to play our roll and color shapes game.

Roll and Color 3D Shapes

This roll and color game is great for kids to play on their own, with a partner or in small groups.

I decided to introduce it in small groups and then put it out as a math center choice during math workshop.

In my first group, we took turns rolling the die and seeing which 3D shape it landed on. Then, we all named the shape together and found it on our recording sheets to color. The shapes included were:

• cube
• cylinder
• cone
• rectangular prism
• sphere (the sphere looks like a circle on the die, as it is hard to show its dimensions, so you will want to address sphere in a bit more detail)
• triangular pyramid

The first time that we played it was a little more guided, as some of the shapes were still new to them and a bit trickier to memorize than the 2D shapes.

One child rolled a cube, we said its name together (“cube”), everyone found it on their own paper and then colored it.

We kept rolling, naming and coloring until our recording sheets were full. At that point, they asked if they could play the roll and color shapes game again!

This game is perfect for beginners because, while the shapes are different sizes, they are placed in the same orientation and are not rotated.

Eventually we will be naming these shapes any way we see them, but this was helpful to start us off.

Grab Your Download

Ready for some fun practice with 3D shapes? Click the blue button below to grab your free copy of this roll and color game and then hop on over to grab our 3D Shapes Centers in our shop!