Understanding and classifying 3D shapes is a standard that students in multiple elementary grade levels explore and learn about. One way for them to share their expertise and understanding of 3D shapes is to find those examples in real life. What better way to do that than by going on a photo scavenger hunt? To show their understanding of 3D Shapes have students Create Pop Art .
Start the process by having students go on a scavenger hunt around the school to identify and capture real life 3D shapes. In order to set students up for success, I recommend telling them to take their photos landscape . This will help them later on when they are creating their pop art.
After students have capture their photos you can walk students through the Create Pop Art steps one by one to create their pop art. When they get to the 'Doodle' step of the project have students write details about their shapes such as the name of the shape, as well as the number of edges, vertices, and faces. If you have any other attributes you want the students to identify they can name those as well.
Depending on your grade level and timeline you may want to have students take it a step further and create a four square pop art example with multiple 3D shapes. If you want students to create a four square I would have students crop their photos into a square before they write the attributes of the shape. Crop each photo into a square using the square preset in the photo crop menu and then finish the pop art by adding the attributes.
Once all four photos are complete you can combine them together in a Keynote project. Start a new Keynote project and change the presentation set up to square. Insert all four photos onto one slide and resize so they fit. I used the Format setting to change each photo to 518 by 518. Once complete it can be exported as a PNG to share with others.
Other ideas:
✨ Identifying fractions, 2D shapes, angles and more
✨ Present your research of a historical figure or country
✨ Create an alternate cover for a book
✨ Label parts of a plant, parts of a cell, etc
September 02, 2025 .
English
Lindsay, thanks for this really nice 3D Shape activity and easy-to-follow instructions. I love the examples you’ve included. From a photography perspective, this lesson will help students develop their observation skills about shapes once they’re sent to take pictures of them and make them “pop!”
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