Here is a list of four points: (1, 1), (4, 1), (4, 3), (1, 3).

If you plotted all four and joined them up, what shape do you think you would get?

Each shape is drawn by plotting every vertex first, then joining the points in the order listed, with the last point going back to the first so the shape closes. Watch that one rule build five different pictures.

• Rectangle: (1, 1), (4, 1), (4, 3), (1, 3)
• Triangle: (1, 1), (5, 1), (3, 5)
• Pentagon: (3, 0), (6, 2), (5, 5), (1, 5), (0, 2)
• A shape using negative co-ordinates, below and to the left of zero
• The surprise: (0, 0), (3, 3), (3, 0), (0, 3)

That last one has the same four corners as a square, but a different result.

Now we plot this kite together, point by point: (3, 1), then (5, 4), then (3, 6), then (1, 4). Always go across first, then up. We plot all four first, then join them in that order and back to the start. Before you join the last line to close it, say what shape you think it will be.

Today we draw four shapes, each one harder than the last. Remember: on a four-quadrant grid, go across first (left for a negative), then up or down (down for a negative).

• Rectangle: (−3, −1), (2, −1), (2, 2), (−3, 2)
• Triangle: (−4, −3), (3, −3), (0, 3)
• Arrow: (0, 2), (4, 0), (0, −2), (0, −1), (2, 0), (0, 1)
• The trickiest: four corners at (−2, −2), (2, 2), (2, −2), (−2, 2). You decide the order to join them so the sides do not cross.