Fun with Shapes Chapter Notes | Mathematics for Class 3 (Maths Mela) PDF Download

Introduction

Shapes are like building blocks for everything around us. Imagine a shape as a special kind of design that you can touch and see.

Like the colorful patterns of Amma's rangoli, there are so many different shapes we can see all around us. Let's explore some together!

Combination of Shapes

We can make all sorts of things by combining different shapes creatively. Here are a few examples:

1. House: A house can be made using rectangles for the walls, a triangle for the roof, squares or rectangles for windows, and circles for doorknobs or windows.

2. Car: A car might have rectangles for the body, circles for wheels, and triangles for headlights or the hood.

3. Tree: A tree can be made using a rectangle for the trunk, circles for leaves, and triangles for branches.

4. Robot: A robot could have rectangles for the body and limbs, circles for eyes or buttons, and triangles for decorations or parts of its design.

5. Rocket: A rocket might use cylinders for the body, cones for the top or nose, rectangles for fins, and circles for windows or portholes.

By combining shapes in different ways, we can create all sorts of objects, from everyday things like houses and cars to imaginative creations like robots and rockets! It's like putting together pieces of a puzzle to build something new and exciting.

Rectangles and Squares

Rectangle

A rectangle is a four-sided shape with opposite sides that are equal in length and four right angles (90-degree angles).

Parts of a Rectangle:

• Sides: Rectangles have four sides. The longer sides are called the length, and the shorter sides are called the width.
• Corners: Rectangles have four corners where two sides meet at right angles. These corners make the shape sharp and defined.

Square

A square is a special type of rectangle where all four sides are equal in length, and all four angles are right angles (90-degree angles).

Parts of a Square:

• Sides: Squares have four equal sides, which means all sides have the same length.
• Corners: Like rectangles, squares also have four corners where the sides meet at right angles. These corners give squares their unique shape.

Corners

A corner is where two sides or edges of a shape meet. 

Imagine a square or a rectangle: each of its four corners is where two adjacent sides come together at a right angle (a 90-degree angle). It's like where two walls meet in a room, forming a sharp point or angle. Corners help define the shape of an object and can be found in various shapes like squares, rectangles, triangles, pentagons, and so on.

 Similarities in Rectangle and Square

Both squares and rectangles are four-sided shapes, but what's really cool is that a square is actually a special kind of rectangle! Here's what they have in common:

1. Number of Sides: Both squares and rectangles have four sides.
2. Right Angles: All their corners have right angles, which means they look like perfectly sharp corners, like the edges of a book or a box.
3. Opposite Sides: In both shapes, opposite sides are equal in length. For example, if one side of a rectangle is 5 units long, the side opposite it is also 5 units long.

The big difference? Well, squares are super special rectangles because all their sides are the same length, making them extra symmetrical and perfect. So, you can think of a square as a "happy" rectangle where everything is equal and balanced!

Triangles

A triangle is a shape with three sides and three corners. It looks like a slice of pizza or a traffic sign.

Parts of a Triangle:

• Sides: Triangles have three sides. Each side is a straight line that connects two corners.
• Corners (Vertices): Triangles have three corners where the sides meet. These corners are called vertices. Each vertex is where two sides come together.

How Shapes are made?

Okay, imagine you have a magical pencil. With this pencil, you can draw all sorts of shapes! There are two main types of lines you can use to draw these shapes: 

• Straight lines are like the edges of a square or a rectangle. They don't bend or curve; they just go straight from one point to another.
• Curved lines are like the edges of a circle or an oval. They bend and are not straight. They can be round or more stretched out like an oval.

When you combine straight and curved lines in different ways, you can create all sorts of shapes like triangles, circles, squares, rectangles, and more! It's like using building blocks to make different structures.

Circle 

Imagine you have a round cookie. That's what a circle looks like. It's like a perfectly round shape with no corners. When you draw a circle, you start at one point and keep going around until you get back to where you started.

Now, the center of a circle is like the middle point of the cookie. It's right in the middle of the circle, and if you draw lines from the center to the edge of the circle, they will all be the same length.

So, the center is like the heart of the circle, right in the middle!

Tangram

A tangram is like a puzzle made of seven different shapes. These shapes are a big square, a medium square, two small squares, a big triangle, a medium triangle, and a small triangle. You can use these shapes to make lots of different pictures and designs.

To make a tangram, you need a piece of paper and something to draw with, like crayons or markers. First, draw a big square on the paper. Then, draw lines inside the big square to make the other shapes.

Now, you can cut out the shapes along the lines you drew. Once you have all the pieces, you can start playing with them to create different pictures and patterns. It's like putting together a puzzle, but you can make your own designs!

Make your own Tangram and use your imagination to make different designs and patterns