9 Volume of Prisms Activities Your Students Will Love

Teaching how to find the volume of prisms can be downright fun! This geometry topic lends itself so naturally to hands-on activities, and I KNOW you know how important hands-on activities are for students! When teaching 6th grade geometry, I always incorporate real life situations for my class. This helps keep students engaged and take ownership in their learning.

Sixth graders should have background knowledge on volume, but I wouldn’t rely on your students remembering everything. I’ve seen volume become a favorite concept for students, and for others, their worst nightmare. The goal in this article is to provide you with a variety of resources to help all of your students succeed. (For 7th grade students, also check out “13 Rockin’ Volume of Pyramids & Prisms Activities”.)

Volume of Rectangular Prisms Activities:

• Volume of Rectangular Prisms Escape Room
• Volume of Prisms Maze
• Volume of Prisms QR Code Game
• 6th Grade Volume & Area Task Cards
• K5 Learning: Volume + Surface Area Worksheets
• Kahoot
• Math with Mr.J Video
• PBS Video
• Munchy Math Snacks

Volume of Rectangular Prisms Escape Room

Who stole what, and where did they take it from? Your students are going to love this Volume of Rectangular Prisms Escape Room. This resource gives students three different puzzles to solve. Each slide has to be solved (correctly) in order to “escape”.

This activity works particularly well for independent or partner practice. It’s best to use when students have some work with volume of rectangular prisms under their belt and keeps them motivated to keep practicing this topic with a variety of question types.

I love using escape rooms with my students. My class is always working hard and I can focus on helping struggling students. When students enter their answers into the Google form, they’re immediately told if it’s right or wrong. Are you currently thinking to yourself, “Self grades and engaging? I’m sold!”

Volume of Prisms Maze

The Volume of Prisms Maze comes with three different mazes for your students to show you what they know. Our maze resources are so popular because they can be used in a variety of ways. 

I love the feeling of running off a set of quality copies that requires me very little work. You can use math mazes for independent practice, homework, pre-assessment, bell work, and station work. I don’t have an infinite amount of mazes in my teacher toolkit, but some days it feels like I do.

One more advantage of using mazes is that they can be used as a printable activity, or as a digital one. Each maze is also available in Google Slides with drag-and-drop arrows to mark students’ paths. This versatile activity can be used in whatever way best fits your class needs.

Volume of Prisms QR Code Game

Am I the only person who is still in awe of QR codes? They’re so helpful in the classroom and your students are going to love this Volume of Prisms QR Code Game! Students can work in small groups while competing to earn the most points based on their correct answers.

In order for this activity to be a success, you’ll need to make sure students have access to technology with a camera. My 6th graders become so much more responsible and independent when they’re using QR codes. There’s something about all those white and black squares that calms their pre-teen minds.

6th Grade Volume & Area Task Cards

Task cards are a staple in my teacher toolkit. If you haven’t started your own supply, our 6th Grade Volume & Area Task Cards are a great place to start! My students love being able to move around the classroom to solve problems, instead of staying at their seats the whole time.

This Task Card set has a wide variety of problems for your students to solve independently. The most important part is to make sure you give everyone a paper to show their work and answers. They need all the help they can get when it comes to being organized. If you know, then you know!

K5 Learning: Volume + Surface Area Worksheets

K5Learning has so many high quality worksheets available for FREE, including Volume + Surface Area. I use this website so often because they create several different worksheets based on the filters you choose.

In order for students to understand how to find volume, they need to master surface area. I love that volume and surface area are together for this resource. When I’m working with small groups, I can easily take a step back to surface area if some students are struggling with volume. Did someone say differentiation?

Kahoot

Students have always and will continue to always love Kahoot. This is a great website to use for a quick formative assessment, unit review, exit ticket, warm-up, etc. I’m always in favor of using a resource that makes my students excited to do math.

This game of Kahoot has 15 volume and surface area questions. Each problem is accompanied with a picture that relates to the question. Your students are going to be working as fast as possible to be able to answer first. Fingers crossed you’re good friends with your teacher neighbor, things are going to get a bit loud.

Math with Mr.J Video

Finding videos for 6th grade math can be very frustrating at times. Either the video is aimed for a very young audience or your students are listening to someone lecture. That’s why I love Mr.J’s videos. He creates quick and engaging problems for middle school content.

At the beginning of this Volume of a Rectangular Prism video, Mr.J reminds students how to find volume based on different vocabulary terms. He has four different problems displayed on the screen. Even though the video is less than six minutes long, my students can begin to struggle sitting still the whole time.

I like to play the intro and the first problem being solved. Next, I challenge my students to solve the second problem on paper with their turn and talk partners. Once that problem is solved by the majority of the class, we continue the video and students compare their work. 

With the last two problems, I always have my students complete those by themselves before finishing the clip. Sometimes all it takes for a kid to understand math is to hear it explained from anyone besides their own teacher.

PBS Video

Mr. J’s videos aren’t your cup of tea? Check out PBS’ Volume of Rectangular Prisms video next! PBS has a variety of high quality educational videos on their website, and they rarely disappoint. During this two and a half minute clip, your students begin to remember what they already know about volume.

This resource is great to introduce the volume unit or to provide differentiation for lower students. Here are a few questions you can require your class to answer after watching the video:

• What items are packed into the box?
• How do the colored cubes help find volume?
• What is the first step when finding how many cubes are in the box?
• What is the second step when finding how many cubes are in the box?
• What is the final step when finding how many cubes are in the box?
• Write down one question you have about volume.

Math Games

Mathgames.com is a great website to refer back to, no matter what skill you’re teaching. This Volume of Cubes and Rectangular Prisms game is a fantastic activity for any student to use. I like to use online math games as extension activities and choice boards. I want my students to associate math with being fun, and this activity helps me achieve that goal.

Munchy Math Snacks

I love finding amazing math resources on Teacher Pay Teachers, even though I’m a little biased towards Math Idea Galaxy😉 . I really enjoyed this free volume activity I came across from Mathematic Fanatic called Munchy Math Snacks.

This resource is great because you can decide how it will best suit your classrooms’ needs. The creator has provided ideas for how to use this project as an extension, if you don’t think all your students are ready to complete this successfully. I do recommend letting your students know they won’t actually be receiving a munchy snack from you while working.

Valiant Volume

One year, when I taught volume, I felt like pulling my hair out at the end of each class period. But, there’s no reason for you to become this frustrated! Use this list of easy-to-use resources to save time & bump up student engagement! Geometry has so many teaching possibilities, so don’t limit yourself. Provide as many situations as you can for your students to grow and succeed!

Thanks so much for reading. Until next time!