Figure perimeterRectangles
Name: Date:
Add every side. All lengths are in centimeters.
1 cm
2 cm
3 cm
4 cm
5 cm
6 cm
7 cm
8 cm
Perimeter of a rectangle worksheets
Perimeter is the distance all the way around, and a rectangle is where every child meets it first. These free printable worksheets give a labeled rectangle and ask for the total distance round the edge.
If they get stuck
Ready for harder? Area & perimeter puzzles — the area and the perimeter are given and the sides are not.
Perimeter of a rectangle
The answer key prints on a separate page.
What's on this sheet
Two numbers are printed, the length and the width, and the work is realizing there are four sides rather than two. Some children add the two labels and stop; some walk the rectangle and add all four; some find the shortcut of doubling the sum. All three are right roads and the sheet does not insist on one, because the understanding to build is that perimeter is a journey round an edge.
Why this sheet works
The figures are drawn to their real proportions, so a long thin rectangle looks long and thin and a square looks square. That matters more than it sounds: a child who is told the sides are 18 and 4 and shown a shape that looks like neither has been given a picture that argues with the numbers.
How this one works
Perimeter of a 10 by 10 rectangle
sides:10101010
sides:10101010
sides:10101010
10 + 10 + 10 + 10=40 cm
- Perimeter is the distance round the OUTSIDE — the length of the fence, not the size of the field. That is the whole difference between this and area, and it is where the usual wrong answer comes from.
- So there is nothing to work out — just walk round the edge and add: 10 + 10 + 10 + 10.
- 10 + 10 + 10 + 10 = 40 cm. Note the unit: cm, not square cm — a fence is a length, and a length never gets squared.