Free 3D Shapes Hide-n-Seek Pirate Treasure! Game
Practice describing 3D shapes with this fun hide-n-seek game for kindergarten. Students will describe a shape using vocabulary to look for hidden pirate treasure.
This free hide-n-seek game is designed to play whole group or small group in kindergarten.
Let me show you how to play and give you the free download so you can play it in your classroom too.
How to play
It’s important to learn to describe 3D shapes using specific vocabulary.
In this game students will describe a shape based on color, faces, edges, vertices, and sometimes size.
So here’s how you play Hide-n-Seek Pirate Treasure!
Lay out all of the cards in a grid – just like you would for a game of memory. Make rows and columns with the 3D shape cards.
Hide the pirate treasure chest behind one 3D shape cards in the grid without students seeing where it has been placed.
You can also hide the lost pirate paraphernalia cards behind other 3D cards to make the game more fun.
Students get called on or take turns describing the shape’s characteristics of the card they want to look under for the treasure.
They should describe the color of the shape, the number of vertices, number of faces and number of edges. In the case of two shapes being the same color, they should describe the size too.
For example, a student wants to look behind the green cylinder card to see if that’s where the treasure is.
They should say something like, “Look under the green shape that has 0 vertices, 2 flat faces and 1 curved face.”
They could also add other information like: “it rolls and stacks” or “it looks like a pop can…” based on what you’ve been practicing in class.
If a student only provides you with partial information – you can prompt them by asking them a question about the parts they left out or explain there are multiple cards that fit the description – can they tell you more?
Then, when the student has described the shape adequately for you to know which one they are describing verbally – take the card out of the pocket chart or flip it to see if the pirate treasure is underneath.
If nothing is under a card or a lost pirate piece is found, the game play continues. Simply put the card back and let the next player take a turn.
If the treasure is found, they have won the game! Let them come up and hide where the treasure will be for the next round of play.
Note: Some students may need to hold a physical shape in order to be able to count the vertices, faces, etc. Give them a box with 3D shape blocks so they can feel and count the shape they want to describe until this support is no longer needed.
How to make this game
Are you ready to play this in your classroom? Here’s how to make this game.
First, download this free set of shape cards. [terms of use] [downloading help]
Next, print each page of 3D shape cards onto a different color piece of paper. You can use bright copy paper or construction paper.
Then, print the lost pirate items cards too. I like plain paper for these to make them stand out, but you can choose any color.
Laminate the cards before cutting if you wish to play regularly or simply cut out all of the cards if you will only play a handful of times.
The card set will store easily in a sandwich-sized Ziploc bag.
Let’s wrap it up
There you have it – a fun and easy game to practice describing 3D shapes for kindergarten.
I hope this free printable activity will save you time and help your students learn this skill fast. (You can even use it to just have students name the 3D shapes if you’re not ready for describing yet.)
You may also want to play describing 3D shape bingo with a mix of plain shapes and real-world objects.
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