Here’s an easy idea for teaching area and perimeter that your students will love!
Take them outside (but first, make it clear that it’s not recess time!).
Have them follow behind you in a line as you walk around the edge of the basketball court (or playground, or blacktop, or whatever you have). Yell out so everyone can hear “This is the PERIMETER of the basketball court!”
Have everyone find a place inside the basketball court. Yell out, “This is the AREA of the basketball court!”
Have your students walk around the perimeter of other shapes like the kindergarten playground, the grass area, a tether ball court, etc.
Have them stand in the area of other shapes.
Later, when someone says, “What’s perimeter, again?” you can say, “Remember when we went outside and walked around shapes?”
“Oooohhh yeah! Perimeter is the length all around the outside of a shape.”
And since I just love anchor chart, here are a couple about area and perimeter:
Download these anchor charts as PDFs here.
Thanks for stopping by!
Hannah Braun is a former teacher with 8 years of experience in the classroom and a master's degree in early childhood education. She designs engaging, organized classroom resources for 1st-3rd grade teachers.
