Teaching 3D Figures in Kindergarten | Ontario 2026 Curriculum

This post was originally published in November 2014 and updated in October 2026 to align with the Ontario Kindergarten Curriculum, 2026.

Introduction

3D figures were one of my favourite math topics to teach in Kindergarten. Students are surrounded by cans, balls, boxes and party hats so it’s easy to connect to their every day lives and the learning feels real to them very quickly.

If you’ve ever wondered how to teach 3D figures in Kindergarten without it turning into a few days of memorizing names… you’re not alone. Here are some questions teachers often have when they reach this topic:

• What does the 2026 Ontario curriculum actually expect students to do with 3D figures?
• Where should I start, and how many figures should I teach?
• How can I keep it hands-on without hours of prep?
• What can students do at centres while I’m working with a small group?

So I’ve updated my original 2014 post. It’s still built around short, sequenced lessons, and it still includes the centres and the 3D figure museum from my years in the classroom, but it now reflects the 2026 curriculum and my current nine-lesson unit. As always, take what works for your students and adapt the rest. Every classroom is different. ✨

What the 2026 Ontario Kindergarten Curriculum Says About 3D Figures

If you’re new to Kindergarten, or coming back from a leave, here is the part of the curriculum this unit is built around. 3D figures sit in Strand A: Foundations of Language and Mathematics, under A9. Geometric and Spatial Reasoning. Two specific expectations are the focus:

• A9.2 identify, sort, and compare the most common three-dimensional objects, including cube, sphere, prisms, cone, and pyramid
• A9.3 in structures they have made, identify three-dimensional objects and two-dimensional shapes

The educator supports in the curriculum give some helpful ideas for what this can look like:

• comparing objects by number of faces, edges and vertices (the curriculum also calls vertices “corners”)
• noticing that objects with flat faces can slide, and objects with curved faces can roll
• noticing that some objects with flat sides can be stacked
• identifying a cube and noticing that its flat surface is a square, or identifying a cylinder and noticing that its base is a circle

In plain terms, I think of it as three big ideas: naming and recognizing the figures, describing and comparing them (faces, rolling, sliding and stacking), and finding them in the world around us and in the structures students build.

Because I like to intentionally spiral and review concepts that I’ve already taught this unit also connects to sorting (A8.1: sort objects or data using one attribute) and patterning (A7.1: identify, describe, and create patterns). If you’d like more on those, I have posts on teaching sorting and teaching patterning, and my 2D shapes post covers the other half of A9. And if you want to see my math scope & sequence and the reasoning behind it, you can find those in this blog post: Why I Teach Math Units in This Order.

A few notes that might save you some questions:

• Which figures should I teach? My unit includes the sphere, cylinder, cube, cone, pyramid and rectangular prism, and the posters and word cards also include a triangular prism that you can add whenever it suits your students. When I was in the classroom, I introduced anywhere from 6 mentioned above and the triangular prism for students who needed a challenge or if it came up naturally in discussion or play. The cylinder isn’t named in the A9.2 list, but it appears in the A9.3 examples and in the curriculum glossary, and it’s all around us, so I include it.
• What about prisms? The curriculum glossary describes a cube as a prism with six congruent faces, and says prisms are named by the shape of their bases (for example, rectangle-based prism). That’s helpful background for you. The unit keeps the vocabulary simple with “cube” and “rectangular prism.”
• Figures, shapes or objects? The curriculum uses the term three-dimensional objects. I’ve kept “3D figures” in this post because that’s the wording in my unit, so please use whichever term your team prefers. The poem also comes in a “3D shapes” and a “3D solids” version if one of those fits your school better.

My Nine-Lesson Progression for Teaching 3D Figures

When I was in the classroom, I taught 3D figures through nine short lessons, with centres running alongside them. The museum letter in my unit gives families about two weeks, which is a good guide for how long to plan. Stretch, combine or skip lessons however suits your students. From Lesson 4 to Lesson 7, I let a student choose a 3D figure song as a warm-up to start the lesson.

Lesson 1: Introducing 3D Figures

I started with a mystery bag. Inside were a can of pop, a tennis ball, a die and a party hat. I pulled the items out one at a time and asked students to think about why they were coming out of the bag and what we might be learning about next. Swap in whatever familiar objects you have on hand.

Once we had guessed, I explained that 3D figures are fat, solid shapes. They are different from 2D shapes because 2D shapes are flat. Then we watched “Here Are the 3D Figures That I Know!” by Harry Kindergarten, and I started our anchor chart by labelling the sphere, cylinder, cube, cone, pyramid and rectangular prism.

This is a completed chart. On the first day I have a picture of each figure already drawn in and we just add the names.

Lesson 2: Finding 3D Figures in Real Life

We began with “3D Shape Song” by The Singing Walrus“, and then I read Cubes, Cones, Cylinders and Spheres by Tana Hoban, a wordless photo book that gets students looking for figures in every day objects.

After reading, students suggested items to add to the “It looks like…” section of our anchor chart. The reference cards from my 3D Figures Are All Around booklet show real-life examples for each figure, which is a handy place to look if students get stuck.

This is also the day I introduced the 3D figure museum. I read the letter to the class, sent it home in their agendas and encouraged students to talk to their families about it. You’ll find more on the museum below.

Lesson 3: Learning the Names

Names can be a little tricky for Kindergarten students, so I gave them their own day. We started with “3D Shape Song for Kids” by Jack Hartmann. Then I put the word wall cards on a table (or in the middle of the carpet) and held up a 3D figure manipulative. Students raise their hands and if they are chosen, they say the name, find the matching card and add it to our math wall. We repeated this until every card was up.

My unit includes posters for each figure in both clip art and real photo versions, with two options for the prism, so you can use whichever works best for your class. I displayed them as a resource for students to use throughout the unit and the year.

Lesson 4: Counting the Faces

This was our first look at attributes, which are words we can use to describe a 3D figure. I explained that the flat parts of a figure are called faces, and I put a smiley face sticker on the face of a cone to show where it was. Then I asked, “How many faces does a cone have?” (One!) We added the number of faces for each figure to the “We see…” section of our anchor chart.

The curriculum’s examples also mention edges and vertices, and it uses “corners” as the everyday word for vertices. In my original version of this post, I introduced edges and vertices with a simple chart once students were comfortable with faces. If your students are ready, you can add them here, or after the building lesson below.

Lesson 5: The 3D Figure Poem

The poem starts, “3D figures are fat not flat, a cone is like a party hat!” I put each sentence strip on a magnet and built the poem as I read it, and students came up to place the matching picture beside each sentence. Then we read it together as a class.

Afterwards, I left the poem at a pocket chart centre so students could mix and fix it and read it with their friends. My unit has two versions of the centre: in one, students put all of the words in order, and in the other they put the sentences in order. There are also take-home versions that students can fill out, which work well at a centre or in small group. If “3D figures” isn’t the wording your school uses, the poem also comes in “3D shapes” and “3D solids” versions.

Lesson 6: Building 3D Figures

I modelled how to build a 3D figure with marshmallows and toothpicks, and a student named the figure we had made. Then I showed the marshmallow and toothpick picture cards so students knew they could use them as a reference, and I sat with groups at centre time to build alongside them.

The cards also give a natural way to talk about the curriculum’s examples. Each one says how many marshmallows and toothpicks you need (the cube card calls for 8 marshmallows and 12 toothpicks, and the pyramid card for 5 and 8). The marshmallows are the corners (vertices) and the toothpicks are the edges, so students are counting them without a separate lesson. However, if you go this route take the rectangular prism out so that the extra marshmallows and toothpicks don’t confuse the students! (Because of the rectangular shape, some “edges” require two toothpicks).

If food isn’t an option in your classroom, play dough balls or plastic straws can also do the same job!

Lesson 7: Mystery Bag

This time the mystery bag became a game. I put a figure into the bag, and a student came up to feel it without looking. Their job was to tell us what they felt, which figure they thought it was and why. For example, if a student felt flat parts, I’d ask, “Could it be a sphere?” No, because a sphere only has curved parts! We repeated this as time allowed. It gives students a chance to use words like flat, curved and faces, which connects to comparing figures in A9.2.

Lesson 8: Roll or Slide

Before the lesson, I built a ramp from wooden blocks and planks from our block centre. I explained that some figures roll and some slide. Rolling means the figure rotates all the way around (I showed how a sphere rolls), and sliding means it moves down the ramp but stays on the same side. Then students tested the figures to find out which ones roll and which ones slide, and I reminded them that some might do both.

Wooden figures work best on the ramp, but foam ones will work too. The cylinder is a good one to test because it has both flat and curved parts. This lines up with the curriculum’s examples, which say that objects with flat faces can slide and objects with curved faces can roll.

I also set the figures out at a centre with my Roll, Slide, Stack recording sheet, so students could keep investigating and record what they found.

Lesson 9: Do These Stack?

We finished with stacking. As a whole group, we tried stacking figures on top of each other and talked about which ones stacked and which ones didn’t, and why. Flat surfaces stack best, and spheres don’t stack well because they have no flat surface. Students can add their findings to the same recording sheet.

3D Figure Centres for Continued Practice

Once students know the names and a few attributes, these centres keep the practice going. Most of them come in colour and black and white, and several have more than one version, so you can pick the options that suit your students.

Naming and recognizing

Clip cards

Students look at a photo of an everyday object, decide which 3D figure it is and clip the matching figure with a clothespin.

Find It, Cover It! and Find It, Dab It!

Students find all of the real-life examples of the figure in the middle of the page and cover them with a manipulative, or dab them with a bingo dabber or dot marker.

Trace the Room and Write the Room

I taped the cards around the classroom, and students found the figures and either traced or copied the names on their recording sheet. This one is always a class favourite!

3D Figure Bingo

This works well as a guided math activity, and there is a “Player’s Choice” card for when a student can name the figure.

Race to the Finish Line

Students roll the dice, move that many spaces and say the name of the figure they land on. I used it for extra naming practice in small group, and small cars or manipulatives work well as game pieces.

Sorting and finding figures in real life

3D Figure Sort

Students sort picture cards of everyday objects onto mats by figure. It’s a simple way to practise sorting by one attribute (A8.1) while recognizing figures in real objects.

Patterning

3D Figure Patterning

Students identify, reproduce and extend AB, ABB, AAB and ABC patterns made with the figures, which connects to A7.1. You can absolutely do this with actual 3D figures manipulatives too but often it is hard to find enough to make patterns with so these strips make it a little easier.

Books and writing

My Book of 3D Figures

There are four cover options and four inside options (colour the figure, trace the figure word, trace the whole sentence or fill in the blank), so you can match the book to what your students are ready for. A 3D figure chart is included for students who choose the fill in the blank booklet and want a reference.

3D Figures Are All Around Writing

Students draw and write something that is an example of each figure, either as a booklet or as loose pages.

Building and structures ( free printable )

The curriculum expectation A9.3 asks students to identify 3D figures in structures they have made, so the block centre is a great place to continue. After we had learned the names, I added my Build & Draw Your Structure recording sheet to our wooden and foam block centre.

Students drew what they built and checked off the figures they used. This is educator-directed play: the materials are open-ended, and the sheet gives students a reason to look at their structure and name its parts.

Want to try this centre? Grab the FREE printable by clicking here or the button below:

The 3D Figure Museum

The museum is a great way to build a home-school connection, and it gives students a collection of real objects to explore. Here is how I ran it:

1. Send the letter home. I introduced the museum in Lesson 2 and sent the letter home in agendas. The letter asks families to send examples of 3D figures from home, such as an ice cream cone (cone), a tennis ball (sphere) or a soup can (cylinder). It also asks them not to send anything valuable, to label items with their child’s name and tells them when everything will be returned. My unit includes a sample letter and an editable PowerPoint version, so you can type in your own name(s), dates and wording.
2. Set up the museum. I set aside an area of the classroom and labelled sections with the word cards from the unit. The same cards work as regular math word wall cards, and there is an “other” card for items that don’t fit neatly into one figure.
3. Sort as items arrive. Students sorted each new item into the right section as it came in, which gave us lots of chances to talk about why an object belongs where it does.

Not every family will be able to send items in, so you might start the museum with objects from your own classroom and treat family contributions as a bonus.

Observing and Documenting Learning

When I was in the classroom, I used quick one-on-one conferences to see where students were. I gave the student a bag of objects and asked them to name each one. If they needed support, I used prompts to help them describe the figure, and then I asked for real-life examples. I jotted down extra notes as we went.

You’ll also see a lot during the lessons and centres. Here are some possible look-fors connected to A9.2 and A9.3, which you can adjust to the way you document:

• names the figures they know, and can say how they know
• sorts figures or objects and explains the sort
• compares figures using words like flat, curved, faces, corners, roll, slide and stack
• finds real-life examples at school and at home
• identifies the figures in structures they have built

If you want assessments all planned and done for you, you can find my math assessment system here.

Want the Complete 3D Figures Unit Ready for You?

If you’d like the lessons and centres ready to print and use, I’ve put everything from this post into my 3D Figures for Kindergarten unit. The lesson plans are written to the 2026 expectations A9.2 and A9.3, and they include sample teacher language you can read word for word if that helps.

Inside the unit, you’ll find:

• nine lesson plans for 3D figures
• posters in clip art and real photo versions
• an editable 3D figure museum letter and word cards
• pocket chart poems and take-home poems
• sort mats and picture cards, clip cards, Find It, Cover It!, Find It, Dab It!, Trace the Room, Write the Room, Bingo and Race to the Finish Line
• a tracing book, My Book of 3D Figures and a 3D Figures Are All Around booklet
• AB, ABB, AAB and ABC patterning cards
• marshmallow and toothpick building cards
• Roll, Slide, Stack and Build & Draw Your Structure recording sheets
• a 3D figure crown

Most pieces come in both colour and black and white, so you can use the option that works best for your class.

The unit is also part of my year-long Kindergarten math bundle. If you’re planning your whole math year, my Ontario Kindergarten Math System post has the full-year option.

I hope seeing the sequence behind the activities makes planning your 3D figures unit a little easier!

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