What are Three-Dimensional Shapes?
In geometry, a three-dimensional shape can be defined as a solid figure or an object or shape that has three dimensions – length, width, and height. Unlike two-dimensional shapes, three-dimensional shapes have thickness or depth.
The attributes of a three-dimensional figure are faces, edges, and vertices. The three dimensions compose the edges of a 3D geometric shape.
A cube, rectangular prism, sphere, cone and cylinder are the basic 3-dimensional shapes we see around us.
We can see a cube in a Rubik’s cube and a die, a rectangular prism in a book and a box, a sphere in a globe and a ball, a cone in carrot and an ice cream cone, and a cylinder in a bucket and a barrel, around us.
List of 3-D Shapes
Here’s a list of the 3-D or three-dimensional shapes with their name, pictures, and attributes.
| Name of 3D shape: | Picture of 3D shape: | Attributes: |
| Cube |  | Faces – 6 Edges – 12 Vertices – 8 |
| Rectangular Prism or Cuboid |  | Faces – 6 Edges – 12 Vertices – 8 |
| Sphere |  | Curved Face – 1 Edges – 0 Vertices – 0 |
| Cone |  | Flat Face – 1 Curved Face – 1 Edges – 1 Vertices – 1 |
| Cylinder |  | Flat Face – 2 Curved Face – 1 Edges – 2 Vertices – 0 |
| Fun Facts: – All three-dimensional shapes are made up of two-dimensional shapes. |
Let’s sing!
3D shapes are fat, not flat.
Find a cone in a birthday hat!
You see a sphere in a basketball,
And a cuboid in a building so tall!
You see a cube in the dice you roll,
And a cylinder in a shiny flag pole!
Let’s do it!
Instead of showing videos around 3D shapes to your kids and kindergarteners, ask them to observe and spot things around them in which they can find three-dimensional shapes. You can further ask them to identify and sort the three-dimensional shape and its attributes.
Related Math Vocabulary
