If you teach any sort of geometry, you know it can be fun to learn. However, creating a PowerPoint or worksheet (eye-roll) can be daunting with all of the figures. I mean, I am no artist - it's hard for me to draw 3D objects on the board, much less on a computer. And why would I when my students can create them?
I begin by having students create geometric nets with paper. This gets them working with their hands and creating 3D objects from 2D sheets. I found these printable nets online and they work wonderfully. (Aren't educators who share their work terrific? It makes my job so much easier!) Of course, the first time I had my kiddos build geometric nets, it was awful! I did not know how long it would take for each one and I had my students making 4 each. Well, I learned from my mistake and now have the class in groups of 4 with each student cutting and taping 2 nets. For me, I want the students to be familiar with the shapes and their names before moving on to the Play-Doh portion of the lesson.
Which brings us to the Play-Doh portion of finding cross-sections of 3D objects, you can go to Teachers Pay Teachers and buy a student sheet, or you can just Google it. I came across this amazing blog when preparing for my lesson. I have my groups of 4 pair up within their groups and each pair gets a container of Play-Doh (they can share it), each student gets a piece of fishing wire (which I stole from my husband - shhh), and each pair gets a student handout to keep track of cross-section names and corresponding shapes.
This is a really fun activity and all students are engaged. Of course, you've got to let them goof-off a tad... it's not everyday they use Play-Doh in a math class. Plus, some students need a little extra help constructing some shapes. Spheres are pretty easy and a good place to start, but once you get into pyramids- whew, I'm sure you can imagine.
~SSB
I begin by having students create geometric nets with paper. This gets them working with their hands and creating 3D objects from 2D sheets. I found these printable nets online and they work wonderfully. (Aren't educators who share their work terrific? It makes my job so much easier!) Of course, the first time I had my kiddos build geometric nets, it was awful! I did not know how long it would take for each one and I had my students making 4 each. Well, I learned from my mistake and now have the class in groups of 4 with each student cutting and taping 2 nets. For me, I want the students to be familiar with the shapes and their names before moving on to the Play-Doh portion of the lesson. 
This is a really fun activity and all students are engaged. Of course, you've got to let them goof-off a tad... it's not everyday they use Play-Doh in a math class. Plus, some students need a little extra help constructing some shapes. Spheres are pretty easy and a good place to start, but once you get into pyramids- whew, I'm sure you can imagine.
~SSB
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