Is it open or closed?

Students will identify and create open and closed figures using labeled cards and pipe cleaners.

A lesson plan for grade K Mathematics

By Vickie Fender

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Related pages

• Open the gate, close the gate: Open the Gate, Close the Gate is a variety of activities to provide practice identifying and discriminating between open and closed figures. The activities are designed to meet varying learning styles, and to move students from the concrete level to the abstract level of learning.
• Exploring geometric shapes: These hands-on activities make learning about geometric shapes more appealing to students.
• Area of solids: Finding area of rectangular solids and cylinders by cutting them into flat pieces and adding the areas.

Related topics

• Learn more about closed figures, geometry, hands-on, mathematics, and open figures.

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Learning outcomes

Students will:

• make open and closed figures with pipe cleaners.
• identify figures as being open or closed when shown pictures of different shapes.

Teacher planning

Time required for lesson

35 minutes

Materials/resources

• Overhead Projector or Chalk Board
• Shapes handout (pictures of open and closed figures drawn on 8×10 paper)
• Two index cards for each child. One card labeled “OPEN” and the other labeled “CLOSED”
• One red and one green pipe cleaner for each child
• Two counters for each child (I used bears)
• Glue

Pre-activities

Have students hold hands and form a circle around the teacher. Attempt and fail to get out of their circle. Explain to students that you cannot get out because the circle is closed. Have two students drop their hands. Walk through the opening. Tell students that you can now leave the circle because it is open.

Activities

1. The teacher will draw or place a picture of a bear on the overhead projector or chalkboard. A student will be selected to draw a shape around the bear. Ask students if the bear could walk out of the shape. If the answer is yes, the shape is an open figure. If the bear cannot walk out, the shape is a closed figure. Choose 2 to 4 more students to repeat this activity. Each student should draw a different shape around the bear.
2. Give each student a red and a green pipe cleaner, two bear counters, and the cards labeled “OPEN” and “CLOSED.” Ask students to take the red pipe cleaner and make a closed figure. Place this shape with the card labeled with the word “CLOSED.” Have students make an open figure using the green pipe cleaner, and place the card with the word “OPEN” with this figure. Ask children to place a bear in each shape that they have made and demonstrate if the bear can “walk” out of the figure. At this time relate the colors of the pipe cleaners to the colors on a traffic light. Red means stop (you can’t get out.) Green means go (you can get out.) Have students repeat this activity several times, creating new open and closed figures each time. Collect bear counters at the end of this activity.
3. Using the 8×10 pictures of open and closed figures, show students pictures of the different shapes. After each shape is shown, have students hold up the correct card for describing the figure as open or closed. Review each time the reason for the shape being open or closed.
4. Give students glue. Have them create an open figure with the green pipe cleaner and glue it onto the back of the card labeled “OPEN.” Using the red pipe cleaner, students should create a closed figure and glue it onto the back of the card labeled “CLOSED.” When cards are dry, have students show each of their figures to the class and create a bulletin board of the open and closed figures.

Assessment

• Teacher will assess accuracy as students create and glue an open and a closed figure to the appropriately labeled card.
• Teachers may use the attached assessment.

Supplemental information

Comments

If you are using an overhead projector with this activity, it is beneficial to make transparencies of the 8×10 pictures of the open and closed figures. This will allow all of the students to view each shape more easily.