Nets of 3D solids

A complete lesson on drawing nets and visualising how they fold. The content has some overlap with a resource I have freely shared on the TES website for years, but has now been augmented and significantly upgraded,as well as being presented in a full, three-part lesson format.

Activities included:

Starter:
A matching activity, where pupils match up names of solids, 3D sketches and nets.

Main:

• A link to an online gogebra file (no software required) that allows you to fold and unfold various nets, to help pupils visualise.
• A question with an accurate, visual worked answer, where pupils make an accurate drawing of a cuboid’s net. Rather than answer lots of similar questions, pupils are then asked to compare answers with others and discuss whether their answers are different and/or correct.
• The same process with a triangular prism.
• A brief look at other prisms and a tetrahedron (the latter has the potential to be used to revise constructions if pupils have done them before, or could be briefly discussed as a future task, or left out)
• Then two activities with a different focus - the first looking at whether some given sketches are valid nets of cubes, the second about visualising which vertices of a net of a cube would meet when folded.

Plenary:
A brief look at some more elaborate nets, a link to a silly but fun net related video and a link to a second video, which describes a potential follow up or homework task.

Printable worksheets and answers included where appropriate.

Please review if you buy as any feedback is appreciated!