What is overlap?

Overlap is when two things share part of the same space or time, like when your toy blocks stack on top of each other.

Imagine you have a red block and a blue block. If you put them side by side, they don’t overlap, they just sit next to each other. But if you place the blue one on top of the red one, part of the blue block is now overlapping with the red one. That means both blocks are in the same space at the same time.

Think about when you and your friend sleep in the same bed. At first, you’re both in the bed, that’s overlap! But if your friend rolls over and takes more of the bed, now part of the bed is only yours, and part is only theirs. That means there's less overlap between you two.

Overlap doesn’t just happen with things that take up space, it can also happen with time! If you start drawing a picture at 10:00 and your brother starts drawing at 10:15, but both of you stop at 10:30, then from 10:15 to 10:30, both of you are drawing at the same time, that’s overlap in time!