Faces, Edges, & Vertices

Neda and her friend Tanya want to go to the beach to have a picnic. They’ve just learned about three-dimensional shapes and are hoping to spot some on their trip to the beach. They want to practice describing them shapes by identifying how many faces, edges, and vertices they have. Can you help them?

Neda and Tanya found a great spot to set up and sit! Wow, look at all of the different things they’ve brought to eat for lunch while enjoying the nice sunny day! Do you see any 3-D shapes?

Look over there! Neda is showing Tanya the mountain at the beach. It resembles a triangular prism! Neda knows that’s a triangular prism because it has 5 faces, 9 edges, and 6 vertices. Let’s count to make sure. Faces are the flat surfaces of shapes. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 faces Edges are the lines that connect faces. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 edges Vertices are the corners of shapes. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 vertices. Yes, that is indeed a triangular prism!

Look over there! Now Tanya is pointing out a new shape to Neda. She is pointing to the milk carton. What shape does that look like? Well, of course! It has rectangles on the side, so it must be a rectangular prism! Let’s count to see how many faces, edges, and vertices it has! 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 faces 1,2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 edges And 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 vertices.

Neda and Tanya are getting hungry. They decide to snack on some watermelon. As Neda gets ready to start cutting slices, she realizes this is another three-dimensional shape! It’s round, a perfect circle. There are no faces, edges, or corners. It must be a sphere!

Oh, wow, it sure is getting hot out! Neda decides to put some ice in her water to help her cool down. Wait! The ice is shaped like a square but it is three-dimensional. Let’s count the faces, edges, and vertices to find out which shape this is! It has, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 faces. It also has, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 edges, and 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 vertices! Of course, this is a cube!

Neda and Tanya are hot from the sunny weather. They decide to go for a dip in the water. As they get up, an ice cream vendor drives up to sell some ice cream! Wow, the ice cream looks yummy and cooling! They see another shape! A cone! The ice cream cone is in the shape of a cone! They know it is a cone because it has 1 face, 1 vertex, and 1 edge!

Identifying shapes and their faces, edges, and vertices sure made Neda and Tanya tired. They’re going to go swim to freshen up. Thanks for helping!