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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Months of the Year Poster - Southern Hemipshere - No Christmas
A poster displaying the months of the year.
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Clock Template
A clock that can be used for games or direct teaching.
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Area Investigation - Big, Loud Feet!
A mathematics investigation involving area, embedded in a real-world context.
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Visual Estimation Games - Estimating Collections Interactive Task Cards
Play visual estimation games like this estimating collections interactive activity to let your students hone their spatial awareness, estimation and mental maths skills.
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Matching Activity for Volume
Provide your students with this matching activity for volume to give them practice finding the volume of objects they see in the real world.
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Volume of Composite Shapes Worksheet
Reinforce essential concepts of volume with our volume of composite shapes worksheet full of real-world scenarios.
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Appropriate Units of Measurement Assessment
Assess your student's ability to determine appropriate units of measurement with a printable Metric Measurement Unit Test.
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Estimating Units of Measure Worksheet Pack
Practise identifying and estimating appropriate units of measurement with a printable pack of Measurement Worksheets for upper years.
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Ordering Mass Cut and Paste Worksheets
Assist students in their knowledge of simple mass with these heaviest to lightest cut-and-paste worksheets.
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Heavy vs. Light Digital Activity
Explore the mass of items and compare and contrast the heaviest and lightest with this set of 25 digital task cards.
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Informal Mass Choose and Use Cut and Sort
Learn the concept of informal units of measurement for mass with this choose and use worksheet.
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Informal Mass Scavenger Hunt Worksheets
Practise using balance scales to determine the weight of objects using informal units with these fun scavenger hunt worksheets.
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Measuring With Mass Interactive Task Cards
Explore how to measure mass with this fun and interactive set of digital task cards.
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Measuring Length with Informal Units Teaching Slides
Teach your students about measuring length using informal units with an engaging, interactive teaching slide deck.
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Informal Measurement Task - The Longest Finger
Explore informal measurement with a printable informal measurement task workbook.
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Estimate the Length Game - MM, CM, M, KM
Practise estimating length in metric units with this self-checking Google interactive activity.
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Estimating Length Task Cards
Use printable Estimating Length Task Cards to practise making estimates of length in metres, centimetres, and millimetres.
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Measuring at the Movies – Informal Units Interactive
Practise measuring with informal units with an exciting movie-themed interactive drag-and-drop activity.
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Sky High - Connecting Cubes Measurement Activity
Practise measuring in informal units using connecting cubes with a digital measurement activity.
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Measuring, Comparing and Ordering Height Worksheet
Measure length using informal units with an engaging hands-on collaborative measurement activity.
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Metric Measurement Conversions Dominoes
Play a game of measurement dominoes to help students practise converting metric measurements.
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Measurement Conversions - Length – Worksheet
Use ratio reasoning to practise converting units of length with this worksheet.
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Today Is…Calendar Worksheet
Start your day with a morning calendar review using our printable daily calendar maths template.
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Days of the Week Word Scramble
Unscramble the names of the days in a week with a printable word scramble worksheet!
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Days of the Week Activity Mat
Review the order and spelling of the days in a week with a printable Days of the Week Activity Mat!
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Elapsed Time Anchor Chart - Problem Solving Strategies
Teach your students how to tell elapsed time with multiple strategies using a printable Elapsed Time Anchor Chart.
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Days of the Week Spelling Worksheets
Use these Days of the Week Spelling worksheets to help your students practise reading, writing, and spelling the Days of the week.
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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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What Does the Clock Say? - Telling the Time Game
Solve the math riddles and read analogue clocks with a fun Time to 5 Minute Telling Time Game.
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Day and Night Sorting Activity
Help your prep students understand and apply the concepts of day and night with this fun sorting activity.
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Time Elapsed Anchor Chart - Printable
Show students how to calculate elapsed time on an open number line with a printable elapsed time anchor chart.
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Digital Clock Template
Use an interactive digital clock to practice telling time during daily classroom calendar lessons.
- Measurement Worksheets
- Measurement Games
- Measurement Posters
- Measurement Templates
- Measurement Teaching Presentations
- 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