Level 1 · Ages 6–8
Look around you: shapes are everywhere! A slice of pizza looks like a triangle, a window is often a square or a rectangle, and a coin is a circle. In geometry, we call these flat shapes, because they are flat, like a drawing on a sheet of paper.
To recognise a shape, you have two great tools: counting its sides (the straight lines around it) and counting its vertices (the corners where two sides meet). A triangle has 3 sides and 3 vertices. A square and a rectangle each have 4 sides and 4 vertices.
So how do you tell a square from a rectangle? Look at the lengths: in a square, all 4 sides have the same length. In a rectangle, opposite sides have the same length, but a long side and a short side are not equal. Both have perfectly right corners, like the corner of a sheet of paper.
And the circle? It is the champion of roundness: it has no straight side and no vertex. It is a curved line that goes all the way around, like the edge of a plate. Your turn to play!
Read it again any time, including while you work through the exercises.
Look around you: shapes are everywhere! A slice of pizza looks like a triangle, a window is often a square or a rectangle, and a coin is a circle. In geometry, we call these flat shapes, because they are flat, like a drawing on a sheet of paper.
To recognise a shape, you have two great tools: counting its sides (the straight lines around it) and counting its vertices (the corners where two sides meet). A triangle has 3 sides and 3 vertices. A square and a rectangle each have 4 sides and 4 vertices.
So how do you tell a square from a rectangle? Look at the lengths: in a square, all 4 sides have the same length. In a rectangle, opposite sides have the same length, but a long side and a short side are not equal. Both have perfectly right corners, like the corner of a sheet of paper.
And the circle? It is the champion of roundness: it has no straight side and no vertex. It is a curved line that goes all the way around, like the edge of a plate. Your turn to play!
Here is a shape with 4 sides that all have the same length and 4 right corners. What shape is it?
4 côtés
I count the sides: there are 4. So it is not a triangle or a circle.
4 côtés égaux
I compare the lengths: all 4 sides are the same. That is the clue for a square.
4 coins droits
I check the corners: they are all right angles, like the corner of a sheet. It really is a square!
Result: This shape is a square.
A shape has 3 straight sides. What shape is it?
3 côtés
I count: 1, 2, 3 sides. Three sides is the signature of a triangle.
3 sommets
I check the corners: 3 sides always give 3 vertices. Everything matches!
Result: This shape is a triangle.