Help students identify real world objects shaped like cones, cubes, cylinders, pyramids, rectangular prisms, spheres and triangular prisms with these playful, hands-on 3D shape sorting mats.
When you’re done sorting all of the shapes, head on over to grab our 3D Shapes Centers in our shop!
Getting Ready
To prep the activity, I first printed the sorting mats and 3D shape picture cards. I chose to print the sorting mats on pink colored cardstock and the picture cards on white cardstock to give them a fun pop of color.
I laminated the mats and picture cards for durability and used my paper cutter to cut out the 3D shape picture cards.
To make the activity self-check for students later, I used a marker to draw the correct 3D shape on the back of each picture card.  At the end of the activity, students could turn their card over to make sure they had the correct card on the sorting mat.
3D Shape Sorting Mats
I decided to introduce this activity as a math warm-up. We sorted the 3D shape picture cards together as a class and talked about the:
- Name of the 3D shape – cone, cube, cylinder, pyramid, rectangular prism, sphere, triangular prism
- Name of the real word object
- Reason the picture card belonged on that mat
Then, I broke the students into small groups and had them sort all of the 3D shape picture cards onto the correct 3D shape sorting mat. Included in the download (found below) are seven sorting mats and four 3D shape picture cards for each sorting mat.
Then, we added the activity to a math station basket so students could work on it again independently.
Grab Your Download
Ready for your students to have some 3D shape sorting fun?! Just click the blue button below to download your free copy of this activity and then hop over and snag our awesome 3D Shapes Centers in our shop for more fun with shapes!
Thank you for the freebies these look awesome. Freebies sure help when you are trying to run a classroom.
I am not able to download the 3D shapes activity. I watched the video and followed the steps, but have not been able to get it to work. Help!! I really like your activity
Hi Lisa,
I will email you.
Warmly,
Ashley // Happiness Ambassador
Hello,
I also am having trouble downloading this activity. I would love to have this to use in my classroom!
Hi Kaitlyn,
Thanks for reaching out. I’m sorry you’re having trouble downloading. We never want that. Please check out our troubleshooting video HERE for help. You’ll also want to make sure you have the most recent version of Adobe Reader Other and that you’re allowing pop ups from our site. If you still can’t get it to work, you can email me at hello@playdoughtoplato.com
Warmly,
Ashley // Happiness Ambassador
Hello, m not been able to download the sheets, can u pls help
Hi Nisha,
Thanks for reaching out. I’m sorry you’re having trouble downloading. We never want that.
Please check to be sure you’ve enabled pop-ups from our site. Even if you’ve been able to download before, the site was recently updated and you may need to do so again. We also recommend using the Chrome browser. For instructions on how to enable pop ups in Chrome, you can check out THIS ARTICLE.
You can also check out our troubleshooting video HERE for help. If you still can’t get it to work, you can email me at hello@playdoughtoplato.com and I will get it to you.
Warmly,
Ashley // Happiness Ambassador
Hi,
When i click on the ‘grab it’ link, it just spins and spins but never loads. I’d love to use these resources!
Hi Laura,
Thanks for reaching out. I’m sorry you’re having trouble downloading. We never want that.
Please check to be sure you’ve enabled pop-ups from our site. Even if you’ve been able to download before, the site was recently updated and you may need to do so again. We also recommend using the Chrome browser. For instructions on how to enable pop ups in Chrome, you can check out THIS ARTICLE.
You can also check out our troubleshooting video HERE for help. If you still can’t get it to work, you can email me at hello@playdoughtoplato.com and I will get it to you.
Warmly,
Ashley // Happiness Ambassador
I’ve got a problem downloading the file. Please help.