Measurement Teaching Resources
Is your maths class ready to dive into length measurement, measuring objects and more measurement practice? Say hello to printable units of measurement worksheets, games and digital activities created by teachers for teachers!
This collection of teaching resources was created by our expert maths teachers to help students meet Australian Curriculum standards. Each printable and digital download has undergone a rigorous review by the teachers on the Teach Starter team to ensure they’re student-ready — so you can cut down on lesson planning time!
New to teaching this part of the maths curriculum? Our teacher team knows what it’s like to suddenly teach a brand-new year level, so we’ve put together a quick guide to teaching measurement!
What Are the 4 steps of Teaching and Learning Measurement?
Students have to learn a long list of measurement concepts during their time in primary school, including:
- length
- liquid volume
- elapsed time
- mass (weight)
- area
- volume of three-dimensional figures
The good news for teachers: Most measurement concepts have very real-world applications for students. That means there's a whole world of ways to get students excited about reading a ruler or tape measure or weighing heavy objects on a scale.
But before you can get there, let's start with the basic steps to work through when you're teaching students how to measure ... well ... anything!
- Direct Comparison — One of the earliest steps of learning measurement is learning the attributes that are being measured. For example, students need to learn what length is if they're ever going to measure it. That's where direct comparison (and step 2, indirect comparison), come in. If you put 2 objects side by side, students can directly compare which is longer and which is shorter and start to understand how to measure an object.
- Indirect Comparison — What happens when you can't directly compare two objects? You can add a third as a reference point for indirect comparison, thereby increasing student understanding of the attribute being measured.
- Measuring With Non-Standard Units or Informal Units — Just as students need to understand the attribute of measuring, they also need to understand the concept of the units we use to measure such as metres or litres. Using non-standard units is the first step to teaching the concept of units, offering students the chance to work with different objects, counting how many of these 'units' it takes to make up another. This is the fundamental base of measurement.
- Measuring With Standard Units — In the final step of teaching measurement, students move on to using the formal units of measurement and learn to use measurement instruments.
Why Is Teaching Measurement Important?
There are concrete uses for learning measurement that will surely spring to mind — from using a tape measure to measure a space in a home to weighing ingredients when baking to determining the capacity of a juice glass before pouring in the liquid. These are all means for quantifying our environment.
But the benefits of teaching students about measuring lines with a ruler or figuring out mass measurements from largest to smallest go well beyond the obvious. Learning to measure helps students develop spatial and number skills.
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Financial Mathematics Maths Investigation – Let's Play Mini Golf!
A mathematics investigation about financial mathematics and measurement, embedded in a real-world context.
- Free Plan
Perimeter and Area Dice Game
Use this area and perimeter dice game as a pair activity during your maths lessons on measurement.
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Reading and Interpreting Timetables Worksheets
Five pages of worksheets that allow students to work on reading and interpreting timetables.
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Analogue and Digital Time to the Minute Worksheet
A worksheet for telling time to the minute and converting between analogue and digital times.
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Perimeter Escape Room – The Mysterious Missing Cupcakes
Have your super-sleuth students solve this perimeter escape room to find out who stole the missing cupcakes!
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Time Word Problems – Worksheet
A collection of 12 word problems involving time.
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Measuring Capacity – Reading Scales Worksheet
A worksheet to give students practice at reading scales on containers to measure capacity.
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Finding Volume – Differentiated Worksheets
Practise finding the volume of rectangular prisms and cubes with this set of differentiated worksheets.
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Reading Scales – Measuring Mass Worksheet
A worksheet for students to use when learning to read scaled instruments to measure mass.
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Elapsed Time – Worksheet
A worksheet for students to practise calculating elapsed time.
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Interactive Maths Review – Activities for Years 5, 6 and 7
Review important maths concepts covered in years 5, 6 and 7 with a student-led interactive activity.
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Measurement Conversion Scoot Game
A set of 24 measurement conversion task cards to use as a whole class scoot activity.
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Volume with Unit Cubes – Worksheet
Use this worksheet to reinforce how to find the volume of a rectangular prism by counting the number of unit cubes.
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Introduction to Area PowerPoint
A 24-slide editable PowerPoint template to use when introducing the concept of area.
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Perimeter and Area Poster
A poster that explains and compares the concepts of perimeter and area.
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Length Maths Investigation - Which Plane Flies Best?
A mathematics investigation about measuring distance, embedded in a real-world context.
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Finding Volume with Unit Cubes – Task Cards
Count unit cubes to determine the volume of a rectangular prism with this set of 24 task cards.
- Free Plan
Connecting Volume and Capacity Posters
A set of three posters to help with connecting and converting units of volume and capacity.
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Area and Perimeter Paddock Problems – Worksheets
A set of differentiated area and perimeter worksheets.
- Free Plan
24-Hour Time Poster
A poster showing 24-hour time and how it correlates with am/pm.
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Converting Time Worksheet
A one-page worksheet with answers to consolidate students' understanding of time conversions.
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Measuring Volume Worksheet
A worksheet to use when exploring the concept of volume.
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Volume and Capacity Maths Investigation – Splash World
A mathematics investigation about volume and capacity, embedded in a real-world context.
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Time Maths Investigation - The Sands of Time
A mathematics investigation about measuring time, embedded in a real-world context.
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Measuring the Area of a Robot with Informal Units Worksheet
A worksheet to use when measuring area with informal square units.
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Capacity Worksheet
A worksheet to use when exploring the concept of capacity.
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I Have, Who Has? Game – Measuring Mass with Scales
A game to reinforce the skill of reading scaled instruments when measuring mass.
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Mass Maths Investigation - How Much Do We Throw Away?
A mathematics investigation about measuring mass, embedded in a real-world context.
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Converting Units of Mass – Worksheet
Convert units of mass including those with decimal representation using this worksheet.
- Free Plan
Converting Units of Capacity – Worksheet
A worksheet that focuses on converting units of capacity.
- Plus Plan
Capacity Vs Volume Poster
A poster explaining the difference between capacity and volume.
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Telling the Time Worksheets - BW
Ten telling the time worksheets.
- Measurement Worksheets
- Measurement Games
- Measurement Posters
- Measurement Templates
- Measurement Projects
- Measurement for Preschool/Kindergarten
- Measurement for Foundation Year
- Measurement for Year 1
- Measurement for Year 2
- Measurement for Year 3
- Measurement for Year 4
- Measurement for Year 5
- Measurement for Year 6
- Measurement for Year 7