Fence me in is a simple strategy game to practice calculating the area and perimeter of a rectangle. The two players compete with each other to draw as many rectangles as possible, but the area and perimeter to fence in is determined by rolling two dices. In this strategy game, each player must determine where his/her rectangle should be positioned on the game board, whether to use the product of the two numbers on the dice as a rectangle area or perimeter, and how many different rectangle dimensions they can have for the same area and perimeter.
Materials
- Graph Paper
- Two 6 sided dice
- Two different colored pencils
How to play
- Each player take a turn to roll the dice.
- On each player’s turn, they need to multiply the two numbers on the dice. Then, outline a rectangle on the graph paper with its area or perimeter determined by the product of the two numbers on the dice.
- Here, the player need to think about a strategy, whether to use the area or the perimeter of their rectangle in the fence me in game.
- For example, if a player rolls 6 and 5 then the product will be 30. The player will then determine whether the product is to be used as the area or the perimeter of their rectangle.
- If they choose to use it as an area, they can draw a rectangle with any dimensions like 6 by 5 or 3 by 10 or 2 by 15 as long as the product remains the same.
- Similarly, if the player decides to use it as a perimeter, they can use any dimensions for perimeter like 6 and 4, or 7 and 3 or 5 as long as the total perimeter of the rectangle equals the product of the numbers on dice.
- To draw an outline of the rectangle, each player uses a different colored pencil to make it easy to count rectangles at the end of the game.
- Play continues until one player is unable to draw a rectangle on the board.
Game Rules
- The rectangles drawn on the game board may touch each other but may not overlap.
- A player loses a turn if he/she rolls a dice and is unable to draw a rectangle.
- At the end of the game, each player adds up the total number of rectangle they’ve fenced in. The player who’s been able to fence the maximum number of rectangle area wins.
More Math Games and Puzzles
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This is a great way of honing your logic and mathematical skills, so what a great game. It’s important to keep our minds sharp at this point.
What a great game for math skills. This is a great addition to any homeschooling family. I will definitely be keeping this idea as games always make learning more fun!
This would be so easy to set up with things I already have. Thanks for the awesome idea!
Great for the homeschool family. Thank you we just started homeschooling!