Challenging pupils to apply knowledge in a practical way is fun and will help them retain essential information. Find out more in this KS2 perimeter lesson plan from Julianne Britton…
It’s important that children have some prior knowledge of perimeter before teaching this lesson. They should have had experience calculating the perimeter of different shapes, both by measuring lengths and using labelled diagrams.
The activities in this plan can be easily adapted to add further challenge or support.
KS2 perimeter learning objectives
- Calculate the perimeter of different shapes
- Solve problems involving perimeter
- Measure, compare, add and subtract measurements
- Solve multi-step problems in context
Starter activity
Start the lesson by asking children to match various shapes to their perimeters. This activity can be easily differentiated to suit the ability of your cohort.
You can give the children plastic shapes and get them to measure the sides in order to find the matching perimeter.
For a simpler approach, give the children diagrams of various shapes with the lengths of each side already labelled.
To challenge those pupils with a more solid understanding of perimeter, give them ‘not to scale’ diagrams with missing lengths.
After this starter activity, draw the class back together and discuss some of the methods used to calculate perimeter.
Julianne Britton is a qualified teacher with eight years of experience. Browse more area and perimeter resources.
