3D Shapes Worksheet for Learning Faces, Edges, and Vertices

Let’s go shape by shape and count the faces, edges, and vertices carefully.

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1. Sphere

- A sphere is like a ball — it’s completely round.
- It has no flat surfaces, so 0 faces.
- It has no straight lines or corners, so 0 edges and 0 vertices.

✔ Sphere: Faces = 0, Edges = 0, Vertices = 0

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2. Cube

- A cube is like a dice — all sides are squares.
- How many flat sides? Top, bottom, front, back, left, right → that’s 6 faces.
- Each edge is where two faces meet. Count them: 4 on top, 4 on bottom, and 4 vertical ones connecting them → 12 edges.
- Vertices are the corners. A cube has 8 corners (like the 8 points of a box) → 8 vertices.

✔ Cube: Faces = 6, Edges = 12, Vertices = 8

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3. Rectangular Prism

- This is like a shoebox — longer than a cube, but still with 6 rectangular faces.
- Same as a cube in structure: 6 faces (top, bottom, front, back, left, right).
- Also has 12 edges — same counting method as cube.
- And 8 vertices — again, same as cube.

✔ Rectangular prism: Faces = 6, Edges = 12, Vertices = 8

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4. Cylinder

- A cylinder is like a can — it has two flat circular ends and one curved side.
- In basic geometry for students, we usually say:
- Faces: The two flat circles count as faces → 2 faces.
*(Note: Some advanced math counts the curved surface too, but for this level, we stick to flat faces only.)*
- Edges: Where the flat faces meet the curved part — there are 2 circular edges (top and bottom) → 2 edges.
- Vertices: No corners at all → 0 vertices.

✔ Cylinder: Faces = 2, Edges = 2, Vertices = 0

*(Important note: In some curricula, cylinders are said to have 0 edges because edges are defined as straight line segments. But since this worksheet includes dotted lines showing curves, and for elementary level, it’s common to count the circular boundaries as “edges” — we’ll go with 2 edges here to match typical school expectations. If your teacher says otherwise, follow their rule!)*

Wait — let me double-check standard elementary definitions:

Actually, in most K–5 math standards (like Common Core), cylinders are taught as having:
- 2 flat faces (the circles)
- 0 edges (because edges must be straight)
- 0 vertices

But looking at how the sphere is drawn with a dotted curve, and the cylinder also has dotted lines, maybe they’re considering curved boundaries?

Hmm… Let’s think about what’s expected here.

In many worksheets like this, especially for younger students, they simplify:

→ Sphere: 0, 0, 0
→ Cube: 6, 12, 8
→ Rectangular prism: 6, 12, 8
→ Cylinder: 2 faces (top and bottom), 0 edges (since no straight lines), 0 vertices

BUT — I’ve seen versions where cylinder is listed as 2 faces, 2 edges (curved), 0 vertices.

To resolve this, let’s look at the title: “3D SHAPES” — and the images include dotted lines to show hidden parts. That suggests they want us to consider the full 3D structure.

However, in strict geometric terms for elementary education:

> According to National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) and most textbooks:
> - Faces: flat surfaces → cylinder has 2
> - Edges: where two faces meet AND must be straight → cylinder has 0 (because the boundary between face and curved surface is not straight)
> - Vertices: corners → 0

So actually, correct answer for cylinder should be:

✔ Cylinder: Faces = 2, Edges = 0, Vertices = 0

I made a mistake earlier — let’s fix that.

Final verified answers:

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Sphere
Faces: 0
Edges: 0
Vertices: 0

Cube
Faces: 6
Edges: 12
Vertices: 8

Rectangular Prism
Faces: 6
Edges: 12
Vertices: 8

Cylinder
Faces: 2 (the two circular bases)
Edges: 0 (no straight edges)
Vertices: 0 (no corners)

This matches standard elementary math curriculum.

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Final Answer:
Sphere: Faces = 0, Edges = 0, Vertices = 0
Cube: Faces = 6, Edges = 12, Vertices = 8
Rectangular prism: Faces = 6, Edges = 12, Vertices = 8
Cylinder: Faces = 2, Edges = 0, Vertices = 0