Hands-On Geometry Activities for Upper-Elementary Learners

When it comes to teaching math in the elementary grades, the geometry unit is my favorite, hands-down. It naturally lends itself to hands-on activities, and students tend to stay more engaged and interested when they can physically build, fold, measure, sort, and draw. With hands-on activities, students can really see geometry concepts in action.

Pairing these experiences with interactive notebook activities gives our young learners a place to organize their thinking and keep a record of all the skills they learn throughout the unit. We have these bundled for third grade, fourth grade, and fifth grade students (organized by TEKS) but check out each of those bundles to see specific skills included!

Here are some of our favorite hands-on geometry ideas to hit those key upper-elementary standards, along with interactive notebooks and quick check activities that can both support instruction and provide a simple assessment tool!

Perimeter: Measuring the Distance Around

Perimeter is one of the first geometry concepts upper-elementary students run into, but it’s also easily confused once they’re introduced to learning area as well.

Hands-on ideas:

• Use string or yarn to trace the perimeter of books, desks, or rugs

• Build shapes using tiles or craft sticks and count the side lengths

• Give students a fixed perimeter and challenge them to design as many different shapes as possible that have that set perimeter

  
  

These kinds of activities help students explore what “distance around” really means. To reinforce this for younger learners who are focusing only on adding sides, check out this Perimeter Interactive Notebook Activity and Quick Check! 

And if your students are learning the formulas for finding perimeter of squares and rectangles, check out this interactive notebook activity.

Area: Understanding the Space Inside Shapes

Finding area becomes much clearer when students can practice covering shapes instead of just learning a formula, and it creates a visual distinction between perimeter and area.

Hands-on ideas:

• Cover shapes with square tiles or counters to give a visual of what “square units” mean

• Use graph paper to draw shapes with the same area but different dimensions

• Practice covering the top the desk with wrapping paper that includes grid lines and calculate the area 

We have a few different variations of Interactive Notebook Activities put together for reinforcing area, like this one that uses the formula with smaller numbers, and this one that includes 2-digit by 2-digit multiplication! Click the images below for more information on each activity.

Types of Lines

Parallel, perpendicular, and intersecting lines show up everywhere, but students may need help noticing them in order to classify them. Start with displaying a few real-world examples of each (like power lines for parallel, street intersections for perpendicular, and airplane condensation trails in the sky for intersecting). 

Hands-on ideas:

• Build line types using straws or popsicle sticks

• Go on a “line hunt” around the classroom or home

• Draw examples using rulers and highlighters

  
  

Hands-on exploration builds vocabulary naturally, and you can use this “Types of Lines” Interactive Notebook Activity and Quick Check to help students organize definitions and practice sorting different types of lines!

Lines of Symmetry 

Symmetry is a concept students love, especially when it involves folding and creating. We have so much fun with this one, we wrote an entire post about engaging ways to teach lines of symmetry! 

Hands-on ideas:

• Fold paper shapes to find lines of symmetry

• Use mirrors to test symmetrical designs

• Create symmetrical drawings, snowflakes, or bugs

  
  

And with a Lines of Symmetry Interactive Notebook Activity & Quick Check, students can practice finding multiple lines of symmetry within one figure.

Classifying Angles 

Before measuring angles, students need to understand what makes an angle acute, right, or obtuse. We always start with right angles since that’s what students need to first understand in order to determine if an angle is acute or obtuse.

I like to tell mine that if they have a piece of paper, they always have a tool for classifying angles. If the corner fits perfectly inside, it’s right. If there’s room on either side of the paper’s corner, it’s obtuse. And if the corner of the paper won’t fit inside their angle, it’s acute.

More hands-on ideas:

• Model angles using clock faces

• Create angles with hinged paper strips

• Use arms to act out different angle types

  
  

Movement and modeling make abstract vocabulary stick! And our Classifying Angles Interactive Notebook Activity & Quick Check gives students practice sorting and labeling angle types based on shapes and number measurements.

Classifying Triangles

Triangles are a great opportunity to push students’ thinking, especially when they realize shapes can be classified in more than one way! With classifying triangles, we typically start by focusing on whether they are right, obtuse, or acute by identifying each angle within the triangle. 

Once students have mastered this, we move on to the terms scalene, isosceles, and equilateral. Then we put it all together and identify triangles by both sides and angles!

Hands-on ideas:

• Sort triangle cards by sides and angles

• Build a given type of triangle using toothpicks and clay

• Compare triangles and discuss similarities and differences

  
  

Classifying 2-Dimensional Shapes

This skill starts early, with kids as young as preschool learning their 2-dimensional shapes based on the number of sides. But later in elementary school, students are expected to classify shapes based on not just the number of sides, but types of angles and types of lines as well.

Hands-on ideas:

• Attribute sorts using shape cards

• Build given shapes on geoboards

• Play “Guess My Shape” using clues about sides and angles

These activities encourage deeper reasoning and vocabulary use! And this Classifying 2-Dimensional Shapes Interactive Notebook & Quick Check helps students organize properties, compare shapes, and practice applying these attributes through a sort true/false activity. 

This other Classifying 2-Dimensional Shapes Interactive Notebook Activity focuses on vocabulary through foldables and definitions, giving students a good starting point to look back on for reference!

And older learners who are tackling classifying quadrilaterals, we have this activity put together that specifically focuses on all those pesky 4-sided shapes.

Measuring Angles

Using a protractor can be frustrating for students at first, but hands-on practice builds confidence. Once they figure out how to correctly line up the protractor, many students get confused with the two sets of lines on most protractors. I always tell mine to start at zero and count up to make sure they don’t accidentally write the wrong measurement.

Another quick tip for teaching them to check that their answer is reasonable is by looking at whether the angle is acute or obtuse. If it’s obviously an acute angle but they wrote 130 degrees as the measurement, then they’ll know they were looking at the wrong set of numbers!

Hands-on ideas:

• Measure angles in letters, shapes, or pictures

• Estimate angle measures before checking

• Model correct protractor placement repeatedly

  
  

Consistency and practice is key here, and our Measuring Angles Interactive Notebook Activity & Quick Check gives guided practice and includes a print-and-cut protractor so students can always keep one tucked into their journals!  

Drawing Angles 

Once students can measure angles, drawing them accurately becomes the next challenge. This is a little trickier, but if they can learn to make their “three points” to connect, then they’re on the right track. I tell my students to make one dot at the bottom of the protractor where the middle point is, one dot at zero, and one dot at the given measurement they’re trying to create. Once they have these three dots, connect them to draw their angle!

Hands-on ideas:

• Draw given angle measures using protractors

• Create angle art designs

Our Drawing Angles Interactive Notebook Activity & Quick Check supports this at the beginner level by having students draw the angles on the protractors themselves.

Adjacent Angles

Adjacent angles can feel abstract until students physically see them. That’s why we always start with a few real-world examples, like clock hands or pizza slices together, so they can see what an “adjacent angle” actually looks like.

When it comes to teaching the skill itself, we first identify whether they’re looking for a missing part of the whole angle, or whether they have both smaller parts and need to find the measurement of the whole angle. By this point they have a good understanding of “parts” and “wholes,” so this is a way to bring it to a simpler level.

This Adjacent Angles Interactive Notebook Activity & Quick Check gives practice both finding the larger measurement of two angles put together by adding and finding the measure of one smaller angle within a larger measurement by subtracting.

Keep Geometry Activities Hands-On

Hands-on geometry activities help upper-elementary students move beyond simply memorizing formulas and skills and ensures they really understand the concepts. When students build, sort, fold, measure, and draw, geometry becomes something real. 

Pairing those experiences with interactive notebook activities and quick checks gives students a tangible collection of the skills they learn throughout the unit and provides a great tool for sharing what we’re learning with parents at home!