Interactivate (shodor.org/interactivate/activities/) is an online resource provided by the Computational Science Education Reference Desk, part of the National Science Digital Library and the National Science Foundation. This resource offers numerous activities to help teens explore the concepts of area and perimeter. Through the Triangle Explorer, Perimeter Explorer, Area Explorer and Shape Explorer, users are given a shape and asked to determine that shape's area or perimeter. Through the Shape Builder, students can create their own shapes and then determine the area and perimeter.
Problem solving activities provide students with real-life scenarios where area and perimeter are used. Math Playground (mathplayground.com/area_perimeter.htm) offers an interactive lesson where students help characters build a backyard pen for their new puppy. Students also use an interactive ruler to measure multiple rectangles and calculate their area and perimeter.
Games can also help students learn about area and perimeter. FunBrain.com's Shape Surveyor has students pretend to be an archaeologist and uncover artifacts while answering questions about area and perimeter. Students can choose to play one of four levels -- from Easy to Super Brain -- and can decide whether to answer questions about area and perimeter or just focus on one subject. Fact Monster's KnowledgeBox math games (factmonster.com/math/knowledgebox) allow students to play baseball and basketball while calculating the perimeter and area of shapes.
The Interactive Geometry Dictionary provides students with interactive resources for finding the area of rectangles, parallelograms and triangles. Students can view illustrations and animated presentations that describe how to find the area of each shape. The Birmingham Grid for Learning (bgfl.org) offers an animated lesson on area and perimeter for younger students. Students who click on a shape are provided with instructions on how to calculate the perimeter and area of that shape. They can then practice these kinds of calculations at three levels of difficulty.