Surface areaBoxes and nets
Name: Date:
Find the surface area of each box. All lengths are in centimeters.
1 cm²
2 cm²
3 cm²
4 cm²
5 cm²
6 cm²
Surface area and nets worksheets
Surface area is the same box as volume, asked the other way round: not how much fills it, but how much wraps it. These free printable worksheets show the solid, its unfolded net, or both.
If they get stuck
Surface area and nets
The answer key prints on a separate page.
What's on this sheet
The net is the standard's own method rather than a decoration. A child who cannot yet hold three hidden faces in their head can find all six on a flat cross, count them into three matching pairs, and add. Once that works, the same child can look at the closed box and know what is behind it.
Why this sheet works
Only three numbers appear on either drawing, and that is the work: six faces come in three matching pairs, and realizing that is what turns a long addition into 2(wd + wh + dh). Children who have just finished volume will often multiply all three numbers together, which is the confusion this practice exists to sort out.
How this one works
Surface area of a 9 × 9 × 10 box
9 × 9 × 10 cm
front and back:2 × 9 × 10 =180
front and back:2 × 9 × 10 =180
the two sides:2 × 9 × 10 =180
front and back:2 × 9 × 10 =180
the two sides:2 × 9 × 10 =180
top and bottom:2 × 9 × 9 =162
front and back:2 × 9 × 10 =180
the two sides:2 × 9 × 10 =180
top and bottom:2 × 9 × 9 =162
total:522
- Six faces, and the drawing can only show you three of them. The three you cannot see are the reason the usual wrong answer here is five faces added perfectly.
- Front and back are 9 by 10, and they are identical — so that pair is 2 × 9 × 10 = 180.
- The two sides are 9 by 10, and they are identical — so that pair is 2 × 9 × 10 = 180.
- Top and bottom are 9 by 9, and they are identical — so that pair is 2 × 9 × 9 = 162.
- Three pairs, six faces, none missed: 180 + 180 + 162 = 522 square cm.