MathematicsGeometryAges 6–10

Building with 3-D Shapes

Compose three-dimensional shapes (cubes, right rectangular prisms, right circular cones, right circular cylinders) and create composite shapes; build new shapes from component shapes, including structures whose two halves match

Lesson

Set out your lesson

Build a composite solid and name its parts.

Before teaching

Activity

Can discuss the supplied example in an accessible mode; adapt directions without supplying the target answer.

Policy

Check the learner can follow the model with support before moving on. Source prerequisite ordering is not learner mastery; return to prerequisite work when needed.

Printer, credit, and teaching notes

Use large stable blocks or closed light cardboard boxes; optional paper cone. Do not stack heavy objects, glass or cylinders that can roll off a table. Without solids, describe the supplied build recipes and record physical assembly pending. Open S first, G together, then T alone; put S and G away before T. Keys stay adult-only. No purchase or printing is required; an unavailable physical observation remains pending, not passed.

Materials are ready in each step. Use them on screen or print just the current step. Put teaching examples aside before the learner tries.

Next: Show

Adult extras

What this lesson covers and its limits

These are bounded opportunities, not learner attainment. Partial and blocked source requirements remain so.

partial: Compose three-dimensional shapes (cubes, right rectangular prisms, right circular cones, right circular cylinders) and create composite shapes; build new shapes from component shapes
Physical building and access to all named solids are conditional; text recipes are not a substitute for observed construction.
partial: Stack cubes and prisms to build towers or structures
Physical building and access to all named solids are conditional; text recipes are not a substitute for observed construction.
partial: Combine 3-D shapes to make a new solid (e.g. cone on top of cylinder)
Physical building and access to all named solids are conditional; text recipes are not a substitute for observed construction.
partial: Describe a composite 3-D shape in terms of its component shapes
Physical building and access to all named solids are conditional; text recipes are not a substitute for observed construction.
partial: Can {{name}} combine 3-D shapes — like stacking cubes and cylinders — to build a new composite solid?
Physical building and access to all named solids are conditional; text recipes are not a substitute for observed construction.

Physical building and access to all named solids are conditional; text recipes are not a substitute for observed construction.

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Build a composite solid and name its parts.

Family records and proof options

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Learning resources

Extra practice links — they do not replace Gakuva’s teaching approach.

Illustrative Mathematics · Practice link — not the full lesson

Box of Clay

Open practice(new tab)

Before you open · source notes

A clay box story supports building with 3-D amounts and volume ideas. Not every 2-D perimeter drill.

Free, no sign-in. A teacher solution is on the same page, so use the student view with your child.

Before you open

Ask the learner to explain how the clay fills the box using length, width, and height.

Opening this link does not save learning or assess mastery.

Source, access and review notes

Public Illustrative Mathematics task page. The .html address responds HTTP 308 to this URL. An anonymous GET of this URL on 2026-11-12 returned HTTP 200 with no login or payment prompt. Where a teacher solution is present, it is on the same page as the student task; this check did not find a separate locked student view. An adult can use the student view section and should not read a solution aloud. Advertising was not observed in the fetched HTML text; that is not a browser, device, or ad-free guarantee. This is a paper or discussion task, not an automatically marked interactive game. Opening the link does not save practice or assess mastery. Diagrams on the page use missing or filename-only alt text, so they are not an accessible image equivalent. Accessibility still depends on an adult describing the picture.

Illustrative Mathematics. “Box of Clay.” Licensed CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. External task; Gakuva does not copy, host, embed, or redistribute it.

CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 — link only

Check understanding

Stack cubes and prisms, or combine 3-D shapes (e.g. a cone on top of a cylinder), to build towers, structures and new solids
Describe a composite 3-D shape in terms of its component shapes
Build a structure whose two halves match and show where it divides into the matching halves

“Can your child combine 3-D shapes — like stacking cubes and cylinders — to build a new composite solid?”

Curriculum record

Type: Procedural
Subject: Mathematics
Domain: Geometry
Age range: Ages 6–10

Standards

acara-v9:AC9M1SP01acara-v9:AC9M4SP01ccss-math:1.G.2the-ontario-curriculum-mathematics-2020:ON-MATH-2020-G1-E1.2the-ontario-curriculum-mathematics-2020:ON-MATH-2020-G1-E1.3the-ontario-curriculum-mathematics-2020:ON-MATH-2020-G3-E1.1the-ontario-curriculum-mathematics-2020:ON-MATH-2020-G3-E1.2