🔢 Numbers & shapes · Ages 4–5 · about 2 weeks

Solid Shapes

Goal: Name a sphere, cube, cuboid, cylinder and cone, and say which ones roll, slide and stack.

For parents: Use real objects from the kitchen rather than pictures — 3D shapes are about how things behave when you hold them.

Do together

  1. Kitchen shape hunt

    You need: The kitchen

    A tin is a cylinder, an orange is a sphere, a box of tea is a cuboid, a funnel is a cone. Collect one of each.

  2. Roll or slide?

    You need: The shapes you collected, a tray tilted on a book

    Try each shape on the slope. Which roll? Which slide? Which do both?

  3. Tallest tower

    You need: Boxes and tins

    Build the tallest tower you can. Which shapes are best at the bottom? Why can't a ball go in the middle?

Talk about it

  • Why does a ball roll?
  • Which shape has flat faces?
  • What shape is a dice?

Words to use

  • sphere
  • cube
  • cuboid
  • cylinder
  • cone
  • roll
  • stack

Play

  • Shape Detective
    Shape clues
  • Shape Builder
    Building
  • Shapes & Colors
    Shapes
Play these games free

Every game is free for every family until 20 November 2026.

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