Measurement Activities for Grades 3 - 6

These activities will help your child develop measurement, an important "strand" or math theme tested in the WASL math activities.

Measurement Activities - Use the following links to see the activity.
Subtract From $1.00 Change "Cashier-Style" Home Measurement
Use the Metric System Find Perimeter and Area Grocery Store Scales

(Activities taken from Mathematics a Guide for Parents to Everyday Mathematics and Helping Your Child at Home Grades K-6, published by Central Kitsap School District Department of Curriculum and Instruction, 2000.)

Subtract From $1.00

  • For practice in mental math, set up a "making change" situation with prices under $1. For example, you might ask at dinner, "Milk will cost 20 cents. How much change would I give you if you paid with a dollar?" Start with easy amounts on a daily basis and work up to prices such as 68 cents.
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Change "Cashier-Style"

  • Provide coins and dollar bills and set up an imaginary store. Take turns being the customer and the cashier. Have your child "count on" to make change. For example, if you pay with $5 for a $3.58 purchase, you count on from $3.58 while handing out the change: from $3.59 (penny), $3.60 (penny), $3.70 (dime), $3.75 (nickel), $4 (quarter), $5 (one dollar bill).
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Home Measurement

  • The next time you are measuring windows, a space for a bookshelf, or an area of the room for a throw rug, have your child help measure with you. When appropriate, use fractions of inches, such as 4 1/4 in.
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Use the Metric System

  • Encourage some measurement activities using centimeters, and later millimeters. For example, a pencil might be a 12.5 cm or 125 mm in length.
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Find Perimeter and Area

  • The concepts of perimeter (distance around the shape) and area (number of square units inside a shape) apply to many activities in the home. For example, finding out how much trim is needed for a window is an opportunity to measure the perimeter. The one-foot tiles on the kitchen or bathroom floor are one square foot. Have your child count them to find the area of a room.
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Grocery Store Scales

  • When purchasing produce, use questions to foster our child's thinking about measurement and estimation. For example, you might ask, "How much do you think five oranges will weight? More than a pound, less than a pound, equal to a pound?" Determine how much the oranges really weigh, then ask, "Did they weigh more or less than you estimated?" He or she could also determine the cost of the oranges by the price per pound.
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