Where do we see lines?
We see lines everywhere around us all the time, for example on buildings, books, televisions, photo frames, roads etc.
Did you know that different types of lines have different names?
Types of lines
A vertical line goes up and down.
A horizontal line goes left to right.
Why not have a look around and see if you can find any horizontal and vertical lines?
Now have a look at the pencils below. Can you count how many vertical and horizontal pencils there are?
How many did you find? You can see that there are 4 vertical pencils and 4 horizontal pencils.
Watch: Perpendicular lines
Now watch this video to find out how to recognise parallel lines and perpendicular lines.
Parallel lines are always the same distance apart for their entire length. Perpendicular lines cross each other at right angles.
A race! Oh, don't forget to stretch guys.
Parallel lines always stay the same distance apart, so they will never cross, no matter how long they go on for.
And that's why they're used in races.
Ready and…they're off! Oh! Exciting stuff!
Good pace…looking good for team triangle…come on triangle!
Wheey! The winner! What a race. Well run you two.
Oh, here we go.
You drawing your own lines now, are you?
Come on don't be a sore loser.
Perpendicular lines cross at right angles.
That's why they're not used in running races.
And I think someone might know that already.
Yeah, I cannot be the only one that saw that coming.
Activities
Activity 1
See if you can spot the horizontal and vertical lines in this quiz!
Activity 2
Parallel names
Write your name in capital letters, like in the example below.
How many pairs of parallel lines can you find?
How many pairs of perpendicular lines?
Which capital letter has the most parallel lines in it?
Which capital letter has the most perpendicular lines in it?
Activity 3
House of lines
This is a two-player game.
Pick a room in your house!
Player 1 gets a point for every pair of parallel lines they can find in the room.
Player 2 gets a point for every pair of perpendicular lines they can find.
The player with the most points wins!
Play our maths game to get ready for the SATs. game
In Guardians: Defenders of Mathematica, use the times tables and more maths skills to defeat monsters and reclaim the Kingdom!
More on Lines and angles
Find out more by working through a topic
- count3 of 10
- count4 of 10
- count5 of 10
- count6 of 10
