Playdough 3D Shapes

Kids love playdough! So, if you are looking for a way to keep them engaged in a lesson, give them playdough. While doing a lesson on 3D shapes I wanted the students to have concrete examples of how 3D shapes are similar and different. The students first made a sphere by rolling the playdough into a ball. We talked about how the sphere would roll because it was curved and had not vertices. They then flattened the top and sides a little bit to create a cube. We talked about when the sides were flattened the shape would not longer roll and that vertices and edges had formed. They then counted the number of edges and vertices. The students then flattened the top a little more to make a rectangular prism. They noticed that the edges and vertices remained the same but now the shape was longer. They connected back to prior learning about squares and square rectangles and their similar attributes. they then rolled the rectangular prism like a "snake" to turn it into a cylinder. They discovered that this shape would roll because it was now curved and the edges and vertices were gone. They then rolled just one end of the cylinder into a point to make a cone. They discussed how this shape would roll because it had a circular base but could only roll if it was on its side. They really seemed to understand the attributes of the shapes with this hands on lesson.