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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Clock Template
A clock that can be used for games or direct teaching.
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Informal Times of Day - Foundations / Year 1 Time Worksheet
Help students learn about time with a set of printable Informal Times of Day worksheets.
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Months of the Year Worksheets
Read, write, and spell the months of the year with a set of printable Months of the Year worksheets for early years.
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Colour By Code Worksheet- Time to 5 Minutes
Practise telling time to the nearest five minutes with a fun Colour By Code worksheet.
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Telling Time Printable Games for Year 2
Help your students learn to tell time to the 5 minutes with this set of 6 printable Telling the Time games.
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Perimeter of Composite Shapes Task Cards
Have your students find the perimeter of composite shapes with this set of task cards perfect for maths rotations.
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Area of a Parallelogram – Match-Up Activity
Calculate the area of parallelograms and match them with their corresponding areas with this match-up activity.
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Area of a Triangle – Match-Up Activity
Calculate the area of triangle figures and match them with their corresponding areas with this match-up activity.
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Which Holds More? – Mini Book
A mini book that allows students to compare the capacity of various containers.
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Five Wonders Theme Park – Stimulus Posters
A number of stimulus posters all themed around Five Wonders Theme Park.
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Days of the Week – Worksheet
A comprehension worksheet for a magazine article from the Foundation magazine (Issue 3).
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Comparing and Ordering Volume Worksheet
A worksheet that explores the concept of volume.
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Measuring the Area of a Desktop Worksheet
A worksheet to use when exploring the concept of measuring area with informal units.
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Bear Square 3D Cube - Template
3D cube templates with bear illustrations.
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Months of the Year Poster — Southern Hemisphere
A poster displaying the months of the year.
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Telling the Time Year 2 Tarsia Puzzle
Solve the tarsia puzzle and practise matching digital times with their corresponding word forms.
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Months of the Year Playdough Mats
Use playdough mats to help your students identify, sequence and spell the months of the year.
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Find the Missing Side Worksheet
Use this missing side perimeter worksheet to help your students find the missing sides on a collection of rectangles and squares.
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Halloween Area and Perimeter Colour by Number Worksheet
Use these Halloween colour-by-number worksheets to practise identifying the perimeter and area of regular polygons.
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Area of a Parallelogram – War Game
Practise finding and comparing the area of a parallelogram with a game of WAR!
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Area of a Parallelogram – Task Cards
Practise calculating the area of a parallelogram with this set of 24 task cards designed for year 7 students.
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Area of a Triangle – Task Cards
Use multiplication and division skills to determine the area of a triangle with this set of 24 task cards.
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Area of a Triangle - Maths Game
Practice finding and comparing the area of a triangle with a game of WAR!
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Which Holds More? – Interactive PowerPoint
An interactive PowerPoint quiz that asks students to compare the capacity of various containers.
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Weighing Scales Templates
A variety of weighing scales templates for students to practise reading scales to measure grams and kilograms.
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Five Wonders Theme Park: Wonderful Expansion – Project
An engaging project that students can use to design their own additional theme for Five Wonders Theme Park.
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3D Popcorn Box Template
Create a 3D popcorn box from a 2D net.
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Volume of 3D Objects Poster
A poster highlighting the formula for finding the volume of common 3D objects.
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Volume Worksheets
3 volume worksheets.
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Time to the Hour and Half Hour Match-Up
Match cards with three different representations of time to practise reading clocks and time in their written form.
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Interactive Area Puzzle (Triangles)
Have your students find the area of 16 triangles on the board and match the corresponding pieces to reveal a mystery picture.
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Five Wonders Theme Park: Slither House Sketch – Project
An inquiry project that encourages students to research animals and their habitats and design a reptile house in a theme park.
- Measurement Worksheets
- Measurement Games
- Measurement Posters
- Measurement Projects
- Measurement Templates
- Measurement Teaching Presentations
- 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