Level 2: Shapes all around

Geometry · level 2 of 8 · rough age 7-8 (a guide for parents; anyone can start anywhere)

Shapes are everywhere: in stop signs, honeycombs, dice, cereal boxes and bathroom floors. In this level you name polygons with up to 10 sides and learn what makes one regular, find lines of symmetry by folding, count the faces, edges and corners of solids, unfold a cube in all 11 possible ways, discover which shapes tile a floor (and prove why regular pentagons never do), and learn the three moves of geometry: slides, flips and turns.

Lesson	You will be able to
Polygons and regular shapes	Name polygons from 3 to 10 sides, test whether one is regular, and count its diagonals
Lines of symmetry	Find every line of symmetry of a shape by folding or with a mirror, and finish a mirror picture
Faces, edges and corners	Count the faces, edges and vertices of solids with a plan, and check them with Euler's rule
Nets of a cube	Recognise all 11 nets of a cube, find opposite faces, and explain why some shapes cannot fold
Tiling the floor	Explain which shapes tile a floor with no gaps, and why regular pentagons and octagons cannot
Slides, flips and turns	Describe a slide, a flip or a turn exactly, and tell a flip from a half turn

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