Christmas Area and Perimeter Games
This is Day 12 of the 12 Days of Christmas Math Games and Activities for Homeschoolers! You can check out the other posts in the series to find easy, hands-on math lesson ideas for your homeschool this month! Today I’m excited to be sharing some fun Christmas area and perimeter games, using this cute free printable!
This activity was designed for kids in 1st grade, who are starting to learn about perimeter and area. It can be adapted for kids from preschool through 4th grade using the suggestions included in this plan!
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What You Need:
- This Christmas perimeter and area free printable (get it below!)
- A bowl of buttons, beads, or other small objects. Cheerios or M+Ms also work well for this activity!
- Wrapping paper that has squares on the back as a cutting guide
- Scissors
Prepare:
- Gather your supplies.
- Print the perimeter mats. You might want to print them on cardstock or laminate them so they will be more sturdy.
- Using the cutting guides on the back, cut several squares or rectangles of wrapping paper in a variety of sizes.
How to Use the Christmas Area and Perimeter Games:
Exploring Perimeter:
In this activity, your child will be measuring perimeter using a non-standard unit of measure. Explain that perimeter is the distance around the outside of a shape. Give your child a bowl of cheerios, M+Ms, beads, or another small object. Your child will arrange the objects around the edge of the shape so that the entire outline is covered. After this is finished, your child can count how many objects they used. This will be the perimeter of the object. You can repeat this activity using each of the object cards in this lesson.
Exploring Area:
For this lesson, your child will be finding the area of the squares of wrapping paper. Explain that area is the amount of space inside a shape. Ask your child to count the number of squares on the back of the piece of wrapping paper. The number of squares will be the area of the piece of wrapping paper. Find the area of each piece by counting the squares.
Adapt the Christmas Area and Perimeter Games for Your Kids:
For Younger Kids:
Use larger objects.
Use larger objects to make the perimeters so that there are less objects to count once the perimeter has been made. Consider using cotton balls, pom poms, or other objects that will be easier for a younger child to count.
Instead of practicing area, practice counting.
Rather than focusing on the idea of area, focus on counting the number of squares on the back of each piece of wrapping paper. Your child will still be finding the area so this will be a great casual introduction to the topic, but you can focus on the counting instead of the idea of area if your kids are younger.
For Older Kids:
Use a piece of string and a ruler to find perimeter.
Show your child how to find the perimeter of an object using a piece of string. Place the string around the outside of the shape and cut the string to the length of the object’s perimeter. Then, use a ruler or yardstick to measure your string to find the perimeter in inches. Standard units of measure are more abstract for kids, so this will add an extra challenge for older kids in this lesson.
Use formulas to find area.
If your kids have been introduced to multiplication, this area lesson is a great time to practice it! Kids can find the area of a larger piece of wrapping paper by counting the number of squares across the bottom (the base) and up the side (the height) and multiplying those numbers together. Then they can check their answer by counting the squares to prove that the area formula works. Kids can also experiment with triangular pieces of wrapping paper and the formula for the area of a triangle, which is (base x height) / 2.
Extensions: Surface Area:
Present wrapping is a great way to introduce the idea of surface area to kids. Surface area is the total area of all the surfaces of a 3-dimensional object. Kids can use wrapping paper with squares to find the surface area of a box (and practice wrapping presents at the same time!)
What Your Kids Will Learn by Playing the Christmas Area and Perimeter Games:
This activity is a great hands-on introduction to the concepts of perimeter and area. Measuring with concrete units like cheerios and wrapping paper squares will help kids understand the concepts without having to understand more abstract units like inches. When kids get plenty of practice with concrete hands-on manipulatives, they will have an easier time transitioning to math “on paper” later.
Get the Christmas Area and Perimeter Games Free Printable!
Fill out the form below to get your copy of the snowman addition free printable. I’ll also send the other lessons in the Christmas Math games and activities series straight to your inbox. All your math plans for the month are done!
Get all the 12 Days of Christmas Math Games and Activities Lessons!
This huge 200+ page PDF is stuffed with hands-on activities and printables to complete 12 fun Christmas themed math lessons! Each day includes complete directions and printables, plus bonus tips, extension activities, and worksheets to reinforce the concepts your kids are learning. This huge bundle includes all the activities and printables you will need to complete the 12 Days of Christmas math games and activities, plus bonus worksheets and extension activities that won’t be included in the free downloads! Harness that Christmas excitement to make homeschooling fun this season with this easy-to-use resource!
These lessons were designed for kids in preschool through 1st grade. Each lesson includes adaptations to customize it for your child’s unique needs- or so that siblings can do the activities together!
Learn more about this amazing resource here!
Christmas STEM Bundle- Save 30%
Are you looking for hands-on science experiments for your homeschool too? I’ve combined my Christmas math and science resources into a huge STEM bundle! And when you purchase both resources together you can save 30%! Learn more here.
Check out the other posts in the 12 Days of Christmas Math Games and Activities series here to find more fun activity ideas for your homeschool!
