Recognising Shapes

Nia and Nico are playing “I Spy” in the park, except this isn't a regular park! This is Polygon Park, so the visitors are a bit shapely. In order to know who Nico and Nia are describing, they will need to practise recognising shapes. We recognise a two-dimensional, or flat, shape by the number of straight sides and vertices it has. A vertex is the corner of a shape; it's the space where two lines meet. It's important to count the number of sides and vertices on a shape to identify what type of shape it is. Certain shapes have qualities, or properties, that must always be true. We use these properties to determine its type. A triangle is a shape with three straight sides and three vertices. A quadrilateral is a shape with four straight sides and four vertices. You may have heard of different types of quadrilaterals, like squares and rectangles. A pentagon is a shape with five straight sides and five vertices. They can come in different sizes. A hexagon is a shape with six straight sides and six vertices. Just like pentagons, they can come in different sizes too. Now that Nico and Nia know how to recognise shapes, they are ready to play "I Spy"! "I spy with my little eye something that has five straight sides and five vertices." First, Nico should find a shape and count its sides and vertices. Does this shape have five straight sides and vertices? One, two, three, four, five; it has five straight sides! One, two, three, four, five; it has five vertices! "Nia, do you spy a pentagon?" "I do!" " Ok, it's my turn. I spy with my little eye something that has six straight sides and six vertices." Take a moment and try to picture which shape Nico described. "Do you spy a hexagon, Nico?" "I do!" Did you also say a hexagon? Whilst Nia and Nico take turns guessing, let's remember! Today we learnt about recognising shapes. We identify a two-dimensional, or flat, shape by the number of straight sides and vertices it has. It's important to count the number of straight sides and vertices on a shape to identify its type. Here is a chart that describes the properties of triangles, quadrilaterals, pentagons and hexagons. "I spy with my little eye, something that has three vertices and three sides." "Oh that's easy, Nia. You spy a triangle!" "Nope." "Huh? What is it then?" "It's you, Nico!" "How could that be me?!" "See! It's you!"