Gumdrop Geometry

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Teaching 3D concepts in Geometry can be difficult because there are a lot of different names for shapes and it’s not only remembering the names, but being able to identify the 3D shapes as well.  The easiest way is to teach students how to identify solid figures (3D shapes) by their faces (number of and shape), vertices (corners), and edges.  Yes, we could sit and work with manipulatives (which we do), or we could build solid figures (which we d0), but the best way to get kids involved and help them really remember what they have learned is by getting their hands dirty.  Hands on activities are usually the most successful.  For Geometry, my favorite hands on activity is Gumdrop Geometry. 

Students use gumdrops and toothpicks to build the solid figures and then record the number of faces, vertices, and edges each shape has.  All information is glued onto Sentence Strips for display.

While all solid figures do not have edges, faces, and vertices (think about a sphere), many solid figures do and students remember the ones that don’t because they didn’t get to use gumdrops for those shapes.

Yes, there was a little gumdrop eating and some fun laughs, but overall my students learned a lot from the assignment and now they can easily identify their solid figures.