Gumdrop Polyheras

Cube

Square Pyramid

Pentagonal Prism

 Building gumdrop polyhedrons with colored toothpicks and spicy gumdrops was a blast!  This project was part of a unit in our Geometry chapter of our mathematics book.  The goal of this "Centers" activity was to build polyhedrons while paying close attention to the number of faces (the flat surfaces), vertices (corner points), and edges (line segment which joins two vertices).  Furthermore, we had to give an example of, "Where in the World" these polyhedrons exist.  Although, it looks simple, it was actually a brainstorming activity for me as I have not been aware of the many polyhedrons that exist.  The three pictured here are a few of many!

So... for the cube, I indicated there was six faces, eight vertices, and twelve edges.  "Where in the World" can this be found is in our kitchen cupboards with the label "Sugar Cubes."  And for the square pyramid, I indicated there was five faces, five vertices, and eight edges.  It can be found in Giza as an Egyptian Pyramid.  Can you figure out the faces, vertices, and edges for the pentagonal prism?  And, "where in the world" it can be found?  There is a formula called Euler's Theorem that is very helpful.  This formula is V+F-E=2.  Meaning Vertices + Faces - Edges = 2.

Sources:

Gumdrop Polyhedras, Mesa Community College. Personal photograph by Miranda Tachine-Benally. 2016.

Tachine-Benally, Miranda. Resource Sheet 4 a. 7 Sept. 2016. Classroom Worksheet. Mesa Community College, Mesa.