Measurement · Area
Area and perimeter of rectangles
Find the area by counting or multiplying, and the perimeter by adding all sides.
Victorian Curriculum VC2M4M02 · 49 questions · 11 step-by-step
How we teach it
This is what sits under the answer sheets in the app — the same cards, clips and lessons your child sees after a question.
Try the interactive lesson: Area Explorer — how much space a shape covers
Tap and count the squares a shape covers — even one with a hole, even half squares — then see that area and perimeter are two different things, draw two rectangles with the same perimeter but different areas, and discover why length × width is the same as counting every square. Six stages from the textbook's own pages.
Try the interactive lesson: Perimeter Explorer — the distance around the outside
Trace the outside of a shape, count it without the lines drawn inside, build a rectangle with a perimeter of 12 on a dot board, find a side that is missing, and see what happens to the perimeter when a square is cut in half. Five steps, and a wrong answer gets a hint, never the answer.
One question, as your child sees it
And the answer sheet that follows a second wrong try: what we know, what we need, the steps, a check, the answer.
What is the area of this shape? Open the lesson on its own pageA short lesson with sound plays here on the screen.
- A5 cm²
- B7 cm²
- C10 cm²
- D14 cm²
First hint: Area is the number of squares a shape covers. Count every grey square once — none twice, none missed.
The answer sheet
- We know
- A shape drawn on a centimetre grid. Each square is 1 cm².
- We need
- Its area — how many squares it covers.
count the tall column: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.
count the squares beside it at the bottom: 6, 7.
5 + 2 = 7. The shape covers 7 squares, so its area is 7 cm².
10 is the box AROUND the shape (2 columns of 5) — but the shape does not fill that box. 14 is the distance around the outside, which is the perimeter, not the area.
Count the numbered squares: 7. ✓
Answer
7 cm²