Free 3D Shape sorting mats

Looking for sorting mats to help children recognize 3D shapes in real life? Here you go!

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Lately I’ve shared a variety of activities for teaching children to recognize 3D shapes. Here’s another math center to add to your collection!

To prepare the center, laminate the mats and cards. Then cut apart. You can make this center extra fun by applying clear Velcro dots to the cards and mats.

To make the activity easier, use just a few mats and their accompanying cards at one time. I knew my first grader could handle the whole set, so we worked with all seven mats.

Some of the pictures are easy to identify. An ice cream cone is, of course, a cone.

But some are trickier – like this metronome. My Six put it on the cone mat to start, but I helped him see that a cone has a circle for a base, while the metronome has a square.

Eventually we found its proper home – the pyramid mat.

We hope you and your students enjoy this fun math center!

Teaching tips

• Have students work in pairs. They can take turns naming the pictures and applying them to the proper mat. If one child disagrees with the other’s choice, teach him or her the proper way to disagree. “I don’t think it belongs on that mat. Let’s see if the shapes are the same.”

• Provide 3D manipulatives (we like this affordable set) so students can examine them more closely.

• If this activity is too difficult, it might be best to back up. Grab a set of 3D shapes and use our 3D shape worksheets.

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