6 Quick & Easy Geometry Activity Ideas Your 3rd Graders Will Love
Are you looking for an easy geometry activity or two to add to your 3rd grade lesson plans? Try one of these six geometry ideas to add some fun to your geometry unit Super Teacher!
The geometry activities in this post address these Common Core Standards:
2.G.A.1 Recognize and draw shapes having specified attributes.
4.G.A.1 Draw points, lines, line segments, rays, angles, and perpendicular and parallel lines.
4.M.D.C.5 Recognize angles as geometric shapes that are formed wherever two rays share a common endpoint.
4.GA.3 Identify line-symmetric figures and draw lines of symmetry.
Geometry Activity #1: Around the School Scavenger Hunt
All you need for this activity is a piece of paper and a clipboard for every student.
Before you take your kiddos for a quiet, calm walk through the school, give them a list of 4-6 geometric items to find.
Take a walk around the school and have students jot down the geometric shapes they see. Take your phone and snap pictures along the way to create a PowerPoint show you can use to review.
When students come back to class, have them label each of their shapes they drew during your scavenger hunt walk.
Was anyone able to find them all?
Geometry Activity #2: Symmetrical Name Art
For this activity, every kiddo will need a piece of construction paper.
And you’ll probably need a few extras when some inevitably get cut in half.
Students with shorter names will fold their paper hamburger style, while students will longer names will fold their papers hotdog style. They will line up the fold with the bottom of their desks.
The location of the fold is VERY important!
Have students write their names in cursive (the taller the letters are the better), focusing on bringing the bottom of the letters to the fold.
Now it’s time to get out the scissors!
And the extra pieces of construction paper, just in case.
First, have students cut around the top of their letters, leaving 1/4 of an inch space between their cursive pencil line and the actual cuts.
Once the top of the letters are cut, it’s time to get brave and cut out a few spots at the bottom.
Make sure students leave parts of the fold, and only cut out a few bottom parts around the lines.
Now, students will open up their symmetrical name art to see their final shape.
These are fun to post as a bulletin board where students guess their classmates names from the art, or you can also have students add to their name art by writing their cursive name on both sides and tracing in Sharpie. The blank options are shown above.
Geometry Activity #3: Masking Tape Geometry
All you need for this activity is a few rolls of masking tape and some art paper. I use the simple sheet pictured above, but it’s not necessary. Art paper works just fine.
Have students create lines, rays, segments, and different types of angles using their masking tape.
Some students will put down the masking tape and draw on top. Others will use the tape as a guide and trace along the edges to create their geometry drawings. Others will treat the masking tape as the lines and then draw giant end points and/or arrows at the ends. Whatever works!
As long as you can tell they understand the concepts, you’re good to go.
Extending this idea, you can also put masking tape on a table or desks and have students measure angles. This activity would be great for older grades working on using protractors.
@headoverheelsforteaching gives a great example of this activity on her IG here.
Geometry Activity #4: Geometry Olympics
This activity sounds way more fancy than it is.
Basically, to do Geometry Olympics in your own class all you need is some open space (move those desks) and a list of geometry terms.
You say a geometry term aloud and students act it out. Then, you take pictures of great examples and turn these into a class book for students to reference.
You can also turn the pictures into a PowerPoint, where students guess what geometric term is being pictured.
If you have Canva Pro (free for educators), you can easily make a presentation and remove the background from the pictures like I did above.
One tip for Geometry Olympics. Angles, lines, and points are easy for students to make on their own.
However, when it comes to polygons, they’ll need to team up. If you’re like me, always worried about kiddos who are left out, assign students beforehand to the quadrilateral group, the pentagon group, the octagon group, etc.
Then, when you call out a polygon, those students will know it’s their time to shine (a.k.a. lay on the floor and make a shape).
This is a consistent winner in my classroom, and it’s EASY!
Geometry Activity #5: Free Polygon PowerPoint
Grab this free Polygon PowerPoint activity to help you introduce the concept of polygons.
It includes the definition of a polygon with practice with examples/non-examples, and some real-life photos for students to spot polygons in the real world.
This freebie comes in a PowerPoint format, so you’re ready to download, project, and PLAY in minutes!
You can get the free polygon activity at TpT here.
Geometry Activity #6: Ready, Set, Show! Game
If you’re looking for a fun paperless practice activity you can use throughout your entire geometry unit, the Super Teacher Ready, Set, Show! Geometry Vocabulary covers everything from polygons and angles to nets.
You can use this to introduce or review concepts throughout your unit on geometry.
Download, add white boards, and you’re ready to go!
The PowerPoint includes 200+ problems organized into the following sections:
- Student intro and instructions
- Practice question
- 10 Polygon problems
- 15 Quadrilateral problems
- 15 Other Common Polygons problems
- 15 Points, Lines, and Segments problems
- 15 Angle problems
- 20 Types of Triangles problems
- 20 3-D Shape problems
- 15 Net problems
- 26 Pattern Block problems
- 15 Geoboard problems
- 35 Mixed Review problems
You can find the updated show at TpT here or at the blog store here.
I hope these ideas help add an easy activity or two to your geometry unit.
Leave a comment and let me know which one you think might work best for you!
Have a fab day Super Teacher,