Ok, teachers – get ready for a couple of FUN FILLED days with your kiddos! Castle Creation is a great surface area and volume project that challenges students to CREATE, MEASURE, and CALCULATE the surface area and volume of several 3-D figures. This project has quickly become a BEST SELLER in my store and for good reasons. Below are the basics of what you need to get started PLUS a NETS FREEBIE! Read on!
Click here to subscribe to “Math Teacher Tuesdays” and get access to my FREE resource library!

How It Works
In this surface area and volume project, students work in teams to build a castle out of 3-D figures. They must create, measure and calculate surface area and volume of their castle! Plus, students will be gaining valuable teamwork skills to come up with strategies to help them build a great castle! Here’s how it works:
- create the following figures: cube, tetrahedron, pyramid, rectangular prism, cylinder or cone (get them for FREE here)
- use a ruler to measure figures as necessary
- calculate surface area of a figure
- build a castle using multiple figures
- calculate number of faces, vertices and edges on their castle
- calculate TOTAL volume of castle using given formulas
OPTIONAL: At project end, students will vote on their favorite castle! I LOVE adding this in – students REALLY get into building a great castle. Reward the winning team with a prize of your choice!

Do your students need a little more guidance? I’ve created this complete lesson to help! It comes with a student packet to guide them through every step. Also included are the nets, formula guide, answer key, and student reward coupons!
Enjoy this activity? You will love this Graphing Linear Equations Treasure Hunt Activity. Or, go ahead and browse all activities by topic here.
Tell me below how this lesson worked in your classroom. I would LOVE to see some completed castles!