2-Dimensional and 3-Dimensional Shapes Worksheet

Somewhere between naming a circle and measuring a cylinder, a child learns that shapes come in two families. Flat shapes lie on the paper; solid shapes take up space and can be picked up. The 2-Dimensional and 3-Dimensional Shapes Worksheet is where that difference gets its name. First graders already know a square and a cube by sight, and this sheet gives them the words 2-Dimensional and 3-Dimensional to hang on what they can already see, then asks them to sort six figures by which family each one belongs to.

This 1st grade geometry worksheet works as one clean task on a single page. Six figures sit in lettered cards across the top: a cube, a triangle, a hexagon, a sphere, a cone and a square. Underneath, two columns are headed 2-Dimensional and 3-Dimensional, and the child writes each shape letter into the column where it belongs. Ask students to trace a finger around each figure first and say out loud whether it is flat or solid before they write anything down. Because the shapes are lettered rather than numbered, a child who is still forming digits can copy a clean capital instead.

What’s Included

• 1 print-ready PDF worksheet
• Answer key
• 6 lettered shape cards, three flat and three solid
• 1 two-column sorting chart with three writing lines per column

The 2-Dimensional and 3-Dimensional Shapes Worksheet helps students in three ways. First, the sort is balanced three and three, so a child cannot guess a whole column right by counting. Second, the figures are drawn the way a textbook draws them, with dashed lines showing the hidden edges of the sphere and the cone, so students meet the drawing convention they will see for years. Third, the vocabulary sits where it does the most work: on the column headers, printed large, so the two words are in front of the child the whole time they are sorting.

Teachers and parents can carry the idea off the page. Walk around the room and name five flat things and five solid things. Hand a child a real cube and a paper square cut from card and ask what one can do that the other cannot. Build the same six figures from clay or blocks and stand them next to the sheet. Older siblings can add a third column for shapes that are neither, or challenge each other to find a solid shape whose faces are all flat shapes.

Related Resources

• Comparing 2D and 3D Shapes Worksheet
• 2D or 3D Shapes Worksheet
• 3D Shapes Matching Worksheet
• Shape Song by Have Fun Teaching