Time to be honest- I really don’t like teaching area and perimeter. I love teaching math, but area and perimeter are not very useful skills in the whole scheme of things. None the less, my students are expected to master these skills so I have to come up with fun activities to practice the tricky skills. I think I have a winner for you!!!
I cut 12 pieces of holiday wrap in a variety of sizes. I labeled each piece of wrap with a letter. Students scooted around the room with their rulers and calculated to area of each piece of wrapping paper. Students loved it and barely noticed how hard they were working!
I added a challenge by including both rectangles and some irregular shapes! I also included large pieces. My students had to use the distributive property in order to solve the large multiplication equation.
My class has only covered area- not perimeter. I only had them solve for area. But you could have them solve for perimeter as well!
If you can’t do this activity before Christmas- consider doing it with birthday wrap! Throw a party! Have them do the scoot, play the area and perimeter party game and then enjoy some cake! They can find the area of a sheet cake!
What a fun way to teach this important skill! I know adults who can't figure out how much paint to buy when they need to paint a room! Thank you for sharing this!
I can’t find the recording sheet. The link does not take me to it.
Sorry about that! You can find that freebie and much more in this free Ultimate Holiday Guide. It’s on page 71 and 122. https://notsowimpyteacher.ck.page/ba7f59c827
I clicked on the link for Ultimate Holiday Guide that is given above, however I have yet to see it in my mail. I’ve tried a few times, so thought I’d see if you might have any suggestions. I’d love to use the wrapping paper idea for our area and perimeter exploration later this week!!!!!