Skip to content
Auralith
Menu
Log inGet started

Year 6 · Maths · Area, perimeter and volume · Lesson 2

Perimeter and compound shapes

Find perimeters and areas of rectangles and compound rectilinear shapes, solve reverse problems, and see that the same area can give different perimeters.

Whiteboard video lesson: Perimeter and compound shapes

19-minute video lesson

Teaching, worked examples and 20 practice questions solved step by step.

Watch free for a month

What your child will learn

  • Find perimeters
  • Find areas of compound shapes
  • Find missing lengths
  • Compare area and perimeter
  • Solve real-life problems

The method

  1. Find missing lengths.
  2. Perimeter: add all sides.
  3. Area: split into rectangles.
  4. Add the areas.

Key words: perimeter, area, compound shape, rectilinear, square units.

Worked examples

The first three practice questions from the lesson, with every step.

Question 1

Find the perimeter of a rectangle 5 cm by 3 cm.

  1. Step 1: Draw it
  2. Step 2: 5 + 3 + 5 + 3 = 16

Answer: 16 cm

Question 2

Find the perimeter of a rectangle 9 cm by 2 cm.

  1. Step 1: Draw it
  2. Step 2: 9 + 2 + 9 + 2 = 22

Answer: 22 cm

Question 3

Find the perimeter of a rectangle 12 cm by 7 cm.

  1. Step 1: Draw it
  2. Step 2: 12 + 7 + 12 + 7 = 38

Answer: 38 cm