Shape Builder

The big ideas

What the levels teach, in grown-up words.

• Shapes have names because of their sides and corners. A triangle has three sides, a square has four equal sides, a rectangle has two long and two short, and a circle has no straight sides at all.
• Big things are built from small shapes. A rocket can be a triangle on a rectangle with a circle window. Spotting the shapes inside everyday things is the start of geometry.
• A mirror line splits a shape into matching halves. Fold a heart side to side and the halves land on each other. A rectangle folds two ways. An S never matches, so it has no mirror line.
• Flat shapes and solid shapes. Flat shapes live on paper. Solid shapes like cubes, spheres, cones and cylinders take up space, and their faces are flat shapes.
• Shapes can be split and joined. Two triangles make a square, two squares make a rectangle, two half circles make a circle. The same shape can be built in different ways.

Try it at home

Quick experiments that match the game.

1. Shape walk. Walk around the house or the street and call out shapes: round clock, rectangle door, triangle roof. Who finds the most?
2. Sandwich shapes. Cut a square sandwich into two triangles, then two rectangles. Which cut makes more pieces of the same shape?
3. Paint mirrors. Fold a paper in half, open it, dab paint on one side, fold and press. The print is the mirror image.
4. Solid hunt. Find a ball, a box, a can and a party hat. Which one rolls? Which one stacks? What flat shape is on the end of the can?