Surface area formulas
The same six solids as the volume chart, asked the other question: not how much fits inside, but how much paper it would take to wrap. Two of them are drawn unfolded, because that is what surface area actually is.
Reference chart
Surface area formulas
Cube
6 × s × s
6 × 16 = 96
Box
2(lw + lh + wh)
2(10 + 15 + 6) = 62
Prism
2 × base + P × height
2(12) + 16 × 5 = 104
Cylinder
2 π r² + 2 π r h
56 + 188 = 244
Cone
π r² + π r l
28 + 47 = 75
Sphere
4 × π × r × r
4 × 3.14 × 25 = 314
Surface area is the wrapping — every face added up, so it stays in sq cm even though the shape is solid. Unfold the solid in your head and add the flat pieces.
What's on this chart
Surface area is the one topic where the formula is genuinely harder than the idea. Every child understands "how much wrapping paper"; almost none can see where 2πr² + 2πrh came from. So the cube and the cylinder are drawn flat here — unfolded into the pieces you would actually add — and once a cylinder is a rectangle between two circles, the formula stops being something to memorize and becomes something to read off the picture.
Why this chart helps
The rectangle in that net is the part worth pointing at. Its height is the cylinder's height, and its width is the circumference of the circle it was rolled around — because that is the distance the roll goes. A child who unrolls a label off a tin has done this, and the chart is only naming what they did.
More printable charts
- Naming 2D shapes
Print Count the straight sides on a shape, then read its name below it. - Quadrilateral family
Print Follow the branches to see which names a shape inherits. - Lines of symmetry
Print Fold each shape in your mind and count the matching halves. - Types of angles
Print Find the picture that matches yours, and the name is under it. - Angles in parallel lines
Print Match each numbered pair to its position around the transversal. - Perimeter formulas
Print Follow the traced edge on the figure, then read the formula under it. - Area formulas
Print Match your shape to a figure and use the letters drawn on it. - Volume formulas
Print Find your solid, then multiply the base area by how tall it stands.