Estimating and Measuring Area

In the early years of school, your child will need to have an understanding of the concept of area.

Here are a few tips to develop your child’s knowledge of this concept:

talk to your child about what measuring the area of something means. In simplest terms it means coverage of a surface.
encourage your child to estimate before they measure as this will help them to think logically.
many household items can be used to cover and measure surfaces – your child could experiment with items such as leaves, tiles, lids, envelopes, shoes, books. You can even try using your feet and hands.
talk about ‘covering surfaces’ when your child is involved in activities such as painting and colouring, playing with pattern blocks or jigsaw puzzles, matching lids to containers, making patterns or even covering a table with a table cloth or placemat.
ensure your child sorts everyday objects according to their area in everyday situations such as separating the larger plates from the smaller plates, making piles of similar-sized jigsaw pieces, or finding cloths that would cover a coffee table or kitchen table.
ask your child to lay out enough newspaper on the floor or table to protect the surface from spills before they use paint.

For more information, ask your child’s teacher for advice or visit the website for parents at:
www.education.qld.gov.au/parents/map/