Compare opposite sides
Equal top and bottom lengths make this figure a parallelogram.
Quadrilateral Workshop
Change a quadrilateral’s top side, height and shift to investigate related shape families.
Grades 3–5 · Geometry
Your goal
Make a square with area 25 square units. Change the top side, height and sideways shift while keeping the base 5 units long.
Reduced motion is on. The controls still update the scene.
You made a right trapezoid with area 9 square units. One pair of parallel sides. Not four right angles. Not four equal sides. Use the side and angle properties to identify the family.
This family keeps the top and bottom sides parallel. All positions are convex and have positive area. Here a trapezoid has exactly one pair of parallel sides. Squares count as both rectangles and rhombuses. All sides use the same unit scale.
Related resources
Common mistakes to avoid
Related simulations
Related tools
Learn with Quadrilateral Workshop
Quadrilateral Workshop gives upper elementary students a family of shapes with parallel top and bottom sides. Children change the top length, adjust height and slide the top sideways while the base remains fixed. Live property statements identify parallel sides, equal sides and right angles. Goals ask learners to build squares, rectangles, rhombuses, parallelograms and special trapezoids with a chosen area. The activity highlights overlapping categories, showing that a square also satisfies the definitions of a rectangle and a rhombus rather than belonging to an isolated group.
What to look for
Check more than one property
A square has four equal sides and four right angles.
Try a tilted rhombus
A shift of 3 with a height of 4 gives a slanted side length of 5.
For teachers and curious learners
Recognize rectangles, rhombuses, squares, parallelograms and trapezoids through their properties. Ask students to predict what will happen, change one setting, and explain what they observe. Learn gives a starting point. Practice and Challenge offer new goals with the same scene.
All figures are convex with a fixed 5 unit base and a parallel top side. Exact integer coordinates determine equal sides and right angles. Trapezoid means exactly one pair of parallel sides here; squares are also rectangles and rhombuses. Length displays are rounded.