How to Teach Geometric Area to Kids
Math can be a confusing subject for some children. Teach your kids geometric area and make learning fun. Area is the surface measurement of an object or what is inside the square like the yard inside the fence. Use these tips to teach geometric area to kids.
- Difficulty:
- Moderate
Instructions
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1
Explain in language that children can understand. Relate the math to a real life concept. Use real life samples. Talk about the space in the child's bedroom or the carpet in the playroom.
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2
Measure a few things together. Get a ruler or a long tape measure. Find the width of a room. Then find the length. Now multiply the two sides. Explain that area is length times width. When you multiply the two measurements together, you get the area of the room.
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3
Tell kids that this is how people determine how much carpet to buy if they want to carpet a room. Make it a bit more challenging by adding cost to the equation. In real life, you need to know the cost of a carpet that covers your room before you buy it.
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4
Pretend you are going to paint a wall. You must determine the area of the wall to decide how much paint to buy. Explain that if you can guess, you might buy the wrong amount of paint.
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5
Tell children that area is measured in square units. In the United States, area is measure in standard units like inches or feet. In Canada, area is measured in centimeters or meters.
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6
Write a list of the basic formulas for area. Explain that base is the bottom of the shape. Height is how high something is from the base. You can write the same formula as Area = length x width.
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7
Show children that the formula for squares and rectangles is the same but that you divide the formula by 2 for triangles because two triangles equal one square.
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8
Practice what you are teaching. Draw diagrams and ask the child to find the area with a ruler. Draw a house plan and have the child measure the area of the whole house. Then measure one room.
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9
Find the area of odd shapes by dividing the shapes into rectangles. Then find the area of each rectangle and add the totals together.
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1
Tips & Warnings
Area of a Square/Rectangle = base x height
Area of a Triangle = base x height divided by 2
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Comments
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I hate math. period.
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Na ja
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susans99
Apr 11, 2009
The reason why mathematics is confusing is because of people who post explanations of mathematical concepts such as this. Tell children that area is length times width? Are you kidding? Area conveys a covering of some type of surface. When we are finding area - we are looking for the amount of space covered by whatever unit we are measuring with - it does not have to be standard (like square centimeters) it can be as easy as how much tile to lay on the floor. The multiplication of length times width is a consequence of finding area - especially of shapes with nice straight edges. When children have the concept down then they do not need to be told the formula - they can discover this on their own and this knowledge helps them when there is no explicit length and width to use. What do you say when you want to find the area of a circle? Where is the length and width there? -
susans99
Apr 11, 2009
The reason why mathematics is confusing is because of people who post explanations of mathematical concepts such as this. Tell children that area is length times width? Are you kidding? Area conveys a covering of some type of surface. When we are finding area - we are looking for the amount of space covered by whatever unit we are measuring with - it does not have to be standard (like square centimeters) it can be as easy as how much tile to lay on the floor. The multiplication of length times width is a consequence of finding area - especially of shapes with nice straight edges. When children have the concept down then they do not need to be told the formula - they can discover this on their own and this knowledge helps them when there is no explicit length and width to use. What do you say when you want to find the area of a circle? Where is the length and width there?
