Find the Area of Shapes by Counting Squares

The area of a shape is the amount of space inside the shape.

To work out the area of shapes made of squares, we count the squares inside the shape.

Example

Calculate the area of this shape in cm².

Each unit square is 1 cm by 1 cm.

Answer

Count the squares.

There are 7 squares.

Area is 7 cm².

We read this as seven centimetres squared.

Remember

If the lengths are in metres, the area will be in m².

Are you ready to have a go at some questions now?