Non-Standard Units of Measure

Somehow I didn't get any photos of us doing this. Sorry about that!

We started by talking about how to measure things by comparing them to something else. For example, a piece of paper was 5 crayons long. Then my very active kids needed a way to make this more about movement.

I had them stand at the entry to our living room and jump as far as they could. Then I marked with a piece of tape where they landed. They got to pick 3 different things to measure their jump. We made a chart and repeated the activity over and over. This kept the kids engaged for just over 30 minutes.

Quickly my kids started picking smaller and smaller items so it seemed like they jumped farther. Bonus: This made them practice counting and one-to-one correspondence. Seeing how easily they could manipulate the numbers, I added an additional challenge. I would tell them to find something so that their jump would be 3 of that item. I didn't mention that this was an introduction to fractions.

Once they were tired calm enough to sit and listen, we were able to discuss the importance of a standard unit of measure. They got it. Two years old and they understood why we need standard units of measure. Yes, that impressed me. This is an activity that we will keep revisiting because it practices so many different skills.