Other tags that relate to Building with Cubes
Working systematically. Tangram. Practical Activity. Interactivities. Visualising. Games. Interlocking cubes. Combinations. Investigations. Cubes & cuboids.There are 193 results
Broad Topics > Thinking Mathematically > Visualising
Building with Cubes
Age 5 to 7 Challenge Level:
Try to picture these buildings of cubes in your head. Can you make them to check whether you had imagined them correctly?
Start Cube Drilling
Age 5 to 7 Challenge Level:
Imagine a 3 by 3 by 3 cube. If you and a friend drill holes in some of the small cubes in the ways described, how many will have holes drilled through them?
Cubes Cut Into Four Pieces
Age 5 to 7 Challenge Level:
Eight children each had a cube made from modelling clay. They cut them into four pieces which were all exactly the same shape and size. Whose pieces are the same? Can you decide who made each set?
Waiting for Blast Off
Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:
10 space travellers are waiting to board their spaceships. There are two rows of seats in the waiting room. Using the rules, where are they all sitting? Can you find all the possible ways?
Tessellating Capitals
Age 5 to 7 Challenge Level:
Have you ever tried tessellating capital letters? Have a look at these examples and then try some for yourself.
Holes
Age 5 to 11 Challenge Level:
I've made some cubes and some cubes with holes in. This challenge invites you to explore the difference in the number of small cubes I've used. Can you see any patterns?
Triple Cubes
Age 5 to 11 Challenge Level:
This challenge involves eight three-cube models made from interlocking cubes. Investigate different ways of putting the models together then compare your constructions.
More Building with Cubes
Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:
Here are more buildings to picture in your mind's eye. Watch out - they become quite complicated!
Green Cube, Yellow Cube
Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:
How can you paint the faces of these eight cubes so they can be put together to make a 2 x 2 x 2 cube that is green all over AND a 2 x 2 x 2 cube that is yellow all over?
Rearrange the Square
Age 5 to 7 Challenge Level:
We can cut a small triangle off the corner of a square and then fit the two pieces together. Can you work out how these shapes are made from the two pieces?
Tetrahedron Faces
Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:
One face of a regular tetrahedron is painted blue and each of the remaining faces are painted using one of the colours red, green or yellow. How many different possibilities are there?
Map Folding
Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:
Take a rectangle of paper and fold it in half, and half again, to make four smaller rectangles. How many different ways can you fold it up?
Construct-o-straws
Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:
Make a cube out of straws and have a go at this practical challenge.
Shadow Play
Age 5 to 7 Challenge Level:
Here are shadows of some 3D shapes. What shapes could have made them?
Endless Noughts and Crosses
Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:
An extension of noughts and crosses in which the grid is enlarged and the length of the winning line can to altered to 3, 4 or 5.
Move Those Halves
Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:
For this task, you'll need an A4 sheet and two A5 transparent sheets. Decide on a way of arranging the A5 sheets on top of the A4 sheet and explore ...
The Development of Spatial and Geometric Thinking: Co-ordinating Space in Drawings
Age 5 to 7
This second article in the series refers to research about levels of development of spatial thinking and the possible influence of instruction.
Redblue
Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:
Investigate the number of paths you can take from one vertex to another in these 3D shapes. Is it possible to take an odd number and an even number of paths to the same vertex?
Paper Patchwork 1
Age 5 to 7 Challenge Level:
Can you work out what shape is made when this piece of paper is folded up using the crease pattern shown?
Paper Patchwork 2
Age 5 to 7 Challenge Level:
Have a go at making a few of these shapes from paper in different sizes. What patterns can you create?
Folding Flowers 1
Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:
Can you visualise what shape this piece of paper will make when it is folded?
Folding Flowers 2
Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:
Make a flower design using the same shape made out of different sizes of paper.
Regular Rings 1
Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:
Can you work out what shape is made by folding in this way? Why not create some patterns using this shape but in different sizes?
Sponge Sections
Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:
You have been given three shapes made out of sponge: a sphere, a cylinder and a cone. Your challenge is to find out how to cut them to make different shapes for printing.
Matchsticks
Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:
Reasoning about the number of matches needed to build squares that share their sides.
Triangular Faces
Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:
This problem invites you to build 3D shapes using two different triangles. Can you make the shapes from the pictures?
Dramatic Mathematics
Age 5 to 11
This article for teachers describes a project which explores the power of storytelling to convey concepts and ideas to children.
Right or Left?
Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:
Which of these dice are right-handed and which are left-handed?
Putting Two and Two Together
Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:
In how many ways can you fit two of these yellow triangles together? Can you predict the number of ways two blue triangles can be fitted together?
Coin Cogs
Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:
Can you work out what is wrong with the cogs on a UK 2 pound coin?
World of Tan 13 - A Storm in a Tea Cup
Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:
Can you fit the tangram pieces into the outlines of the convex shapes?
Seeing Squares
Age 5 to 11 Challenge Level:
Players take it in turns to choose a dot on the grid. The winner is the first to have four dots that can be joined to form a square.
Painted Faces
Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:
Imagine a 3 by 3 by 3 cube made of 9 small cubes. Each face of the large cube is painted a different colour. How many small cubes will have two painted faces? Where are they?
Posting Triangles
Age 5 to 7 Challenge Level:
If you can post the triangle with either the blue or yellow colour face up, how many ways can it be posted altogether?
The Development of Spatial and Geometric Thinking: the Importance of Instruction.
Age 5 to 11
This article looks at levels of geometric thinking and the types of activities required to develop this thinking.
Turning Cogs
Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:
What happens when you turn these cogs? Investigate the differences between turning two cogs of different sizes and two cogs which are the same.
Hundred Square
Age 5 to 7 Challenge Level:
A hundred square has been printed on both sides of a piece of paper. What is on the back of 100? 58? 23? 19?
Tangram Tangle
Age 5 to 7 Challenge Level:
If you split the square into these two pieces, it is possible to fit the pieces together again to make a new shape. How many new shapes can you make?
Twice as Big?
Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:
Investigate how the four L-shapes fit together to make an enlarged L-shape. You could explore this idea with other shapes too.
Put Yourself in a Box
Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:
A game for 2 players. Given a board of dots in a grid pattern, players take turns drawing a line by connecting 2 adjacent dots. Your goal is to complete more squares than your opponent.
Tangram Paradox
Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:
How can the same pieces of the tangram make this bowl before and after it was chipped? Use the interactivity to try and work out what is going on!
Making Maths: Rolypoly
Age 5 to 11 Challenge Level:
Paint a stripe on a cardboard roll. Can you predict what will happen when it is rolled across a sheet of paper?
Little Boxes
Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:
How many different cuboids can you make when you use four CDs or DVDs? How about using five, then six?
World of Tan 5 - Dragon
Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:
Can you fit the tangram pieces into the outline of the dragon?
Square Surprise
Age 5 to 11 Challenge Level:
Why do you think that the red player chose that particular dot in this game of Seeing Squares?
How Many?
Age 5 to 11 Challenge Level:
Have a look at these photos of different fruit. How many do you see? How did you count?
World of Tan 30 - Logical Thinking
Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:
Can you logically construct these silhouettes using the tangram pieces?
World of Tan 9 - Animals
Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:
Can you fit the tangram pieces into the outlines of the camel and giraffe?
World of Tan
Age 5 to 11 Challenge Level:
Read about the adventures of Granma T and her grandchildren in this series of stories, accompanied by interactive tangrams.
NRICH is part of the family of activities in the Millennium Mathematics Project.