Construcing the Five Platonic Solids

 

 

 

The skeleton forms of the Platonic (or regular) solids can be constructed using the straws and pipe cleaners provided. The straws will be the edges and the pipe cleaners will be bent in half and used to connect the edges together at the vertices. Care must be taken during assembly, especially toward the end of construction. When you're done, you'll have really good-looking solids to hang from your ceiling or set on your desk.


Tetrahedron The tetrahedron has 6 edges, 4 vertices, and 4 faces.

You will need 6 straws of equal length.

3 faces meet at every vertex.

Use pipe cleaners to connect the edges.

 

 

 


Cube
The cube has 12 edges, 8 vertices and 6 faces.

You will need 12 straws of equal length.

3 faces meet at every vertex.

Use pipe cleaners to connect the edges.

Octahedron The octahedron has 12 edges, 6 vertices and 8 faces.

You will need 12 straws of equal length.

4 faces meet at every vertex.

Use pipe cleaners to connect the edges.

 

 

Dodecahedron The dodecahedron has 30 edges, 20 vertices and 12 faces.

You will need 30 straws of equal length.

3 faces meet at every vertex.

Use pipe cleaners to connect the edges.

 

 

 

Icosahedron The icosahedron has 30 edges, 12 vertices and 20 faces.

You will need 30 straws of equal length.

5 faces meet at every vertex.

Use pipe cleaners to connect the edges.