What is Perimeter?
Perimeter is the total distance around the outside of a shape.
Just like walking around your backyard fence or tracing the edges of your notebook - that's perimeter!
It's calculated by adding up the lengths of all the sides of a shape.
How to Find Perimeter
1️⃣ Identify all sides of the shape
2️⃣ Measure each side (if not given)
3️⃣ Add all side lengths together
Let's Practice!
Example 1: The Playground Fence
Your school playground is a rectangle that's 50 meters long and 30 meters wide. How much fencing is needed to go all around it?
For a rectangle, perimeter = 2 × (length + width)
So: 2 × (50m + 30m) = 2 × 80m = 160 meters of fencing needed!
Example 2: The Triangular Garden
Maria's garden is shaped like a triangle with sides measuring 5m, 7m, and 9m. She wants to put decorative stones around the edge. How many meters of stones does she need?
For any shape, just add all the side lengths!
5m + 7m + 9m = 21 meters of stones needed.
Parent Tips 🌟
- Real-world practice: Measure perimeters around your home - tables, windows, or your backyard. Kids love using real measuring tapes!
- Sidewalk chalk math: Draw shapes outside and have your child calculate the perimeter by stepping along the edges.
- Perimeter scavenger hunt: Challenge your child to find objects with perimeters between certain measurements (e.g., between 1m and 2m).