Painted cube puzzle
A big cube made of small cubes, 3, 4 or 5 along each edge, is painted, dipped in wax or iced, then taken apart. The student counts how many small cubes have the coating on exactly 3, 2, 1 or no faces, or fills in all four counts at once.
Painted all over, the corners have 3 painted faces, the edges between them 2, the middle of each face 1, and the hidden inside none. A cake iced on the top and sides but not the bottom changes the counts, so the student has to think rather than recall a rule. The working takes the cube apart layer by layer.
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What changes each time
- A painted block, a waxed cheese, or a cake iced on five faces
- 3, 4 or 5 small cubes along each edge
- One count, or all four in a table
More shapes and angles practice
- Sides and corners of 2D shapes (Grade 2)
- Faces, edges and vertices (Grade 3)
- Sorting quadrilaterals (Grade 3)
- Turning and flipping letters (Grade 3)
- Counting squares of every size (Grade 3)
- Inside or outside the loop (Grade 3)
- Which piece fills the gap? (Grade 3)
- Symmetry on a grid (Grade 4)
- Rotations and reflections (Grade 4)
- Reading a protractor (Grade 4)
- Parallel and perpendicular lines (Grade 4)
- Parts of a circle (Grade 4)
- Draw without lifting your pencil (Grade 4)
- Can these sticks make a triangle? (Grade 4)
- 3D shapes: side view (Grade 5)
- Rectangle in a quarter circle (Grade 5)
- Rope around the Earth (Grade 5)
- Can dominoes cover the board? (Grade 5)
- Angles in a circle (Grade 6)
- Inscribed circle in a right triangle (Grade 8)