How Many Faces and Vertices? Worksheet

Solid figures are where geometry stops being flat, and this How Many Faces and Vertices? Worksheet gives second graders a clear, hands-on way to describe them. A face is one of the flat surfaces on a solid shape. A vertex is a corner, the point where the edges of those faces meet. Once a child can count both, a cube stops being “a box” and becomes a shape with six faces and eight vertices — a thing that can be named, compared and sorted by its attributes. That is exactly what the second grade geometry standards ask for, and it is the language every later lesson on volume, surface area and nets is built on.

The sheet works in two short parts. Part A shows six solid figures drawn the way a textbook draws them, with the hidden edges dashed so a child can see all the way around each shape and count the corners at the back as well as the front: a cube, a square pyramid, a cylinder, a triangular prism, a rectangular prism and a triangular pyramid. Under each figure are two labeled writing lines, one for faces and one for vertices. Part B then asks the child to look back at those answers and reason with them — which shape has no vertices at all, and which two shapes share the same number of vertices. That second part is the step from counting to comparing. Use this How Many Faces and Vertices? Worksheet as morning work, as a math-center task, as homework, or as a quick check before a geometry unit test.

What’s Included

• One printable 2nd Grade math worksheet, ready to print on US Letter paper
• Part A: six solid figures with dashed hidden edges, each with faces and vertices lines
• Cube, square pyramid, cylinder, triangular prism, rectangular prism and triangular pyramid
• Part B: two comparison questions that send students back to their own answers
• A full answer key on the final page

This worksheet helps children in three concrete ways. First, the dashed hidden edges make the count honest: a child cannot get eight vertices on a cube by counting only the four corners facing them, so the drawing itself teaches that a solid has a back. Second, the six shapes are chosen so the answers spread out — two faces, four, five and six all appear, and one shape has zero vertices — which stops a student from settling into a pattern and forces a fresh count every time. Third, Part B turns the finished chart into evidence: comparing the shapes is real reasoning, not another round of counting, and it is the kind of question a test will ask.

Teachers and parents can stretch this 2nd grade geometry worksheet well past one sitting. Hand out real objects — a tissue box, a soup can, a party hat, a wooden block — and have children match each one to a figure on the page before they write anything. Ask them to trace a finger along every edge of a shape while counting out loud, which catches the corners that hide at the back. After the sheet is finished, cover the pictures and read out a pair of numbers, then let a partner name the shape. For an extra challenge, have students count the edges too and look for the pattern that connects faces, vertices and edges.

Related Resources

• Flat and Solid Shapes Worksheet
• Drawing Shapes By Attributes Worksheet
• Counting Shapes Worksheet
• Shapes Song