KidZone Math Worksheets
Geometry Nets

A "Geometry Net" is a flattened  out three dimensional solid (a three dimensional shape) -- like a cube, a prism or a pyramid.  When you cut out the "net", fold it and glue it together you can see what the three dimensional shape looks like.

A three dimensional shape is called three dimensional (or 3D) because it has three dimensions:  length, width and height. 

The two most common measurements we need for a three dimensional shape is:

• volume:  for example, how much water it would hold
• surface area:  for example, how much area you would have to paint to cover the entire outside of the shape

Creating paper models like these geometry nets allows children to explore the more familiar 2 dimensional shapes that go into making a three dimensional one.

I think it's particularly fun to do these during Christmas -- you can hang the three dimensional shapes on the Christmas tree.

By Shape - Platonic Solids (all the sides are identical):

Geometry Net Cubes -- all the sides are squares

Geometry Net Tetrahedrons -- all the sides are triangles
 

By Shape - Prisms (a 3D shape where if you sliced it like a loaf of bread, each slice would look identical):

Geometry Net Rectangular Prisms -- all the slices are rectangles

Geometry Net Square Prisms -- all the slices are squares