Lego Math: Area and Perimeter

Who doesn't love playing with Legos?  I have been trying to think of ways to incorporate our children's love of Legos with mathematics.  As an application of multiplication, I developed this lesson on area and perimeter.  It is geared for elementary students and takes an investigative approach to developing the concepts.

Grade Level: 2-4 grade

Main Goal: Use prior knowledge about multiplication to develop the concepts of area and perimeter.

Introduction:

Congratulations!  You have been selected to join an elite team of engineers to build a fortress for our great city. There is rising conflict in the Republic and we need to protect this outpost from invasion.  We are fortunate in that we have recently discovered a new material that appears to be stronger than steel. Hopefully, it will hold against the Empire's latest weapons.  You will use this as your building material.  Good luck!

Math Background:

• addition
• multiplcation

Mission: 

(printable version)

1. Using Legos, create a model of your rectangular fortress.
2. Determine in units of Legos, the measurements of your fortress.
3. How many Legos are needed to "fill" your figure?
4. If you were to patrol the outside of your fortress, how many Lego bricks would you pass?
5. Create a mathematical model for your responses to questions 3 and 4.
6. Let's test your model for another figure and see if it works.  Repeat steps 1-5 and record your responses.

Conclusions:

Using the evidence from your investigation, generalize your findings to write a formula for area and perimeter.

Area:

Perimeter:

What do you notice about the difference in area and perimeter between the two fortresses you designed?  You should see that the more spread out the fortress, the larger the area and perimeter.

Additional Online Games and Resources:

• Perimeter Explorer
• Shape Surveyor
• Bucky's Blueprints
• House Design Webquest