Primary 4 · Measurement & Geometry
P4 nets
A net is the flat shape you get when you unfold a solid. In P4, your child learns the nets of cubes, cuboids, prisms and pyramids, and how to tell which flat shapes fold back up.
- Taught in
- Term 4
- Syllabus
- 4 skills
- Usual slip
- Counting squares
What your child learns in P4 nets
Four skills, each with what it looks like on a worksheet.
See the syllabus wording
- identifying 2D representations of cube, cuboid, cone, cylinder, prism, pyramid
- drawing 2D representations of cube, cuboid, prism, pyramid
- identifying the nets of 3D solids: cube, cuboid, prism, pyramid
- identifying the solid which can be formed by a given net
Name the solid from a drawing
Six solids come up in P4. Your child names each one from its picture, using the dotted lines to see the edges at the back.
Draw the solids
Your child draws cubes, cuboids, prisms and pyramids as flat pictures, with the hidden edges dotted.
Match a solid to its net
A cube net has 6 squares and a cuboid net has 3 pairs of rectangles. A prism net has 2 matching ends, and a pyramid net has a triangle on every side of its base.
Say which solid a net makes
Given a net, your child names the solid it folds into. Two triangles and three rectangles make a triangular prism.
Key facts and formulas
- Cube6 equal square faces. A dotted line is a hidden edge.
- Cuboid6 rectangle faces, in 3 matching pairs.
- Prism2 matching ends, and a rectangle for each side.
- PyramidA base, and a triangle for each side, meeting at the top.
- Cylinder and coneA cylinder has 2 circle faces and a curved surface. A cone has 1 circle face and a curved surface. Their nets are not in the P4 syllabus.
All 11 nets of a cube
A cube unfolds in exactly 11 ways. Your child does not need to learn them by heart, only to check any six squares by folding them in their head.
The last shape has six squares too. Fold it and two faces land on top of each other, so it never closes.
Words to know
- Net
- The flat shape a solid unfolds into.
- Fold
- Bend along an edge to build the solid.
- Opposite faces
- Faces that end up facing each other, like a top and a bottom.
- Overlap
- Two faces landing in the same place. If any do, it is not a net.
The sentence that costs the mark
A flat shape is made of six squares. Does it fold up into a cube?
What the working usually does
counts6 squares=a cube
Counts the faces, sees six, and stops. A cube has six faces, so the shape passes the count and the working looks done.
What the question asked
folds6 squares=not a cube
Folds the shape up in the mind. Two faces that should end up opposite are side by side, so they collide and the shape never closes.
Six squares is the right number, a cube does have six faces, so the count feels like proof. The only real test is folding it up: if two faces that should end up opposite sit side by side, they collide, and the shape never closes into a cube.
The same P4 nets question, worked properly
Lah works through it the way she does every question in StudyLah: one step at a time, marking the picture as she goes.
Which of these figures are nets of a cube?
- A cube has 6 square faces, and each figure has six squares. So imagine folding each one, and check them in turn.
- Figure A has a 2 by 2 block of squares, so two squares land on the same face. A is not a net of a cube.
- Fold Figure B and Figure C the same way. Each square covers a different face, so both fold into a cube.
- So B and C are the nets of a cube.
Every question in StudyLah comes with a walkthrough like this one.
Try it freeTwo quick P4 nets questions
Try them together, then tap to check.
Question 1
The figure is made of 8 squares. Six of them fold into a cube. Which 2 squares do not belong?
Show answer
AnswerA and E. B, C, D, F, G and H fold up into a cube, one square on each face, so A and E have no face left.
Question 2
This net is folded into a cube with Face D at the bottom. Which face is at the top?
Show answer
AnswerA. A folds round from B and ends up facing D, so A is opposite D.
Helping at home
How to tell it has clicked
Ask your child to point at two squares that will end up opposite each other. If they can find all three pairs on a flat net, they are folding it, not counting.
Try this tonight
Unfold an empty tissue box along its edges. Fold it back and watch which flaps become opposite faces. They were never side by side on the flat.
Before and after P4 nets
Builds on
Primary 2 Shapes and PatternsNames the cube, cuboid, cone and cylinder
You are here
Primary 4 Nets
Unfolds the solids into nets
Leads to
Primary 5 Shapes and Spatial ReasoningCounts every cube, even hidden ones
Leads to
Primary 5 Volume of Cube and CuboidBuilds cuboids from unit cubes
More in Primary 4
Struggling with the working rather than the topic itself? How to help your child with problem sums
See how your child is doing on this topic
StudyLah marks each step separately, so you can see whether it was the setup or the arithmetic that cost the mark.