Free Printable Rectangular Prism Net

A net is a flat pattern that folds into a solid. A rectangular prism has six rectangular faces, twelve edges and eight vertices, and its net lays all six faces out flat, joined along the edges they share. Fold the net of a rectangular prism along those edges and the faces close into the prism with no gaps and no overlaps.

The faces come in three pairs of equal rectangles: the top and bottom, the front and back, and the left and right. This tool draws the 1-4-1 cross: the left side, the front, the right side and the back in a row, all as tall as the prism, with the top and bottom on the front. Each face is printed with its name and its size.

Surface area is the area of all six faces added up, and a net shows every face at once; Common Core grade 6 asks students to use nets to find the surface area of three-dimensional figures (6.G.A.4). On a rectangular prism net each pair of faces has the same area, so find one face of each pair, double it and add the three pairs: SA = 2(lw + lh + wh).

For a prism 5 cm long, 3 cm wide and 2 cm high: the top and bottom are 5 × 3 = 15 cm² each, 30 cm² together; the front and back are 5 × 2 = 10 cm² each, 20 cm²; the left and right are 3 × 2 = 6 cm² each, 12 cm². The surface area is 30 + 20 + 12 = 62 cm². The answer key prints this table for any size you set.

Six rectangles make a net only if they fold up without two faces landing on each other. A cube has 11 different nets, and six of them have four faces in a row with one face on each side of it, like the cross this tool draws. A rectangular prism folds from the same shapes, each face sized to its edges.

Three quick checks catch the shapes that are not nets. Six faces in a row wrap around and the last two land on the first two. Two lids on the same side of the row make two tops and no bottom. And where four faces meet at one corner of the pattern, it cannot fold, because each corner of a prism joins three faces.

Volume is the space inside: length × width × height, V = lwh in Common Core 6.G.A.2. The 5 × 3 × 2 cm prism has a bottom layer of 5 × 3 = 15 cubes of 1 cm³ and two such layers, 30 cm³ in all. A 2 × 1 × 3 in prism holds 6 in³, and one more inch of height makes 8 in³, while its surface area grows from 22 to 28 in².

Surface area is counted in square units and volume in cubic units: cm² and cm³, or in² and in³. Switch the unit at the top of Size, and the sizes, the face labels and both answers follow. The table gives the surface area, the volume and the pages of each ready prism.

Choose Print for a PDF at actual size on Letter or A4: a first page with the folding steps and a 1 in and a 25 mm square to check the scale, then the net. Every ready prism prints on one page. For a bigger one, the page count shows under the size and the net splits across pages with corner marks to tape together.

Card stock folds cleanly and holds its shape; score the dashed lines first with a ruler and a dry pen. Tape the free edge of the left side to the back, fold the top and bottom closed and tape their edges. The Cricut SVG cuts the outline and scores the folds, and the SVG and PDF also open in a design program.

Give each student a different size and the same task. The practice sheet has a line for a name and date, the net with its faces labeled, and the table to fill in; the answer key for the same size has every cell filled in, ready to check work. Each sheet prints on one page and scales a large net down to fit, saying so.

For a hands-on lesson, print the nets on card stock, fold them and measure the faces again. For a cube, open the cube template; for a box with flaps that opens and closes, the dieline generator.