Area is the space inside a shape. Count the number of unit squares (like tiles) that cover a rectangle to find its area. A rectangle that is 3 units long and 2 units wide covers 6 unit squares, so its area is 6 square units.
You already know how to find area by counting unit squares — those little tiles that fit inside a shape. Now we're going to look closely at rectangles and notice something that makes counting much easier. A unit square is a square that is exactly 1 unit wide and 1 unit tall. When you tile a rectangle with unit squares and count them all, that total is the area of the rectangle.
Think of a rectangle as rows of tiles on a floor. Imagine you are laying tiles in a bathroom. If the bathroom is 4 tiles wide and 3 tiles tall, you put down a first row of 4 tiles, then a second row of 4, then a third row of 4. How many tiles total? You can count every single one: 1, 2, 3... all the way to 12. That count is the area: 12 square units.
Here is the pattern to notice: each row has the same number of tiles, and the rows stack up. A rectangle 4 units wide and 3 units tall always has 4 tiles in each row and exactly 3 rows. You don't need to count every tile — you can count one row (4) and then count how many rows there are (3). But for now, counting every square carefully is exactly the right approach. It keeps you connected to what area actually means: the amount of flat space inside a shape.
One important thing to remember: area is measured in square units, not just units. If your tiles are 1 inch on each side, the area is in square inches. If they are 1 centimeter on each side, it is in square centimeters. The word "square" in the unit name tells you that you are counting two-dimensional space — length in one direction and width in another direction at the same time.