Recognise Cubes and Cuboids

This activity is about 3D shapes.  

We need to learn their names and spellings. Here, we will look at how to work out which shape is which. 

We are going to focus on the 3D shapes called cubes and cuboids. 

Here, we have a cube.

We can recognise a cube because it is a 3D square. 

A cube has 6 faces, 12 edges, and 8 vertices. 

Let's have a look at what this means. 

A face is each flat part - a cube only has square faces. 

The edges are the parts where the faces join together. 

Vertices are corners. 

Here, we have a cuboid.

We can recognise a cuboid because it is a 3D rectangle. 

A cuboid also has 6 faces, 12 edges, and 8 vertices. 

The difference between a cuboid and a cube is that the cuboid is a mixture of rectangular-shaped faces and square faces, whereas a cube has all six faces that are squares. 

A cuboid could also have all rectangular faces like this:

Shall we have a go at some questions now?