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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Informal Measurement - Task Cards
A set of task cards to use when learning about informal measurement.
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Bear Square 3D Cube - Template
3D cube templates with bear illustrations.
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Converting Units of Measurement Poster (Imperial)
Use these posters to assist your students in learning the different units of measurement in the imperial system.
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Using Units of Measurement Worksheets - Year 5
6 using units of measurement worksheets linked to the Australian Curriculum.
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3D Popcorn Box Template
Create a 3D popcorn box from a 2D net.
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Volume With Decimals Worksheets
Provide these volume with decimals worksheets to your students to give them practice calculating volume and multiplying decimals.
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Volume Math Games — Composite Figures Match-Up
Challenge your students with volume math games like this composite figures match-up that will have them matching compound rectangular prisms with equations and volumes.
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Volume Hands On Activity — The Popcorn Challenge!
Make learning ‘pop’ with this volume hands on activity — ‘The Popcorn Challenge!’
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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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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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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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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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Digital Clock Template
Use an interactive digital clock to practice telling time during daily classroom calendar lessons.
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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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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 – 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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Units of Measurement Word Wall Vocabulary
Print a pack of measurement vocabulary cards to help your students review academic vocabulary.
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Volume of Rectangular Prisms – Interactive Activity
Practise calculating the volume of rectangular prisms with this interactive activity.
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Volume of Irregular Prisms – Worksheet
Calculate the volume of irregular prisms and solve real-world problems with this worksheet.
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Measuring Length with Clovers Worksheet
Measure familiar objects using our lucky clover in this St Patrick’s Day maths activity!
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Number Talks - Measurement Conversion Task Cards
Build number sense skills with this set of 20 task cards.
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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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Wonderings – Worksheet
A comprehension worksheet for a magazine article from the Foundation magazine (Bonus Issue).
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Weighing Scales Templates – Fish Scales
An assortment of weighing scales templates to give students practice at reading scales to measure mass.
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My Recipe Rules - Measurement Worksheet
A worksheet using money and measurement concepts.
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Time Zone Locations Around the World Display
A classroom display showing the different time zones around the world and locations which belong within each time zone.
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Months of the Year Poster - Northern Hemipshere
A poster displaying the months of the year.
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Measurement Classroom Decoration Pack
A pack of page borders and cut-out decorations for your classroom.
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Interactive Clock for Teaching Time (Analogue and Digital)
Teach time with an interactive digital clock designed to add a hands-on element to this important primary school lesson!
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Reading Timetables
A 60 minute lesson in which students will read and interpret timetables and calculate elapsed time.
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Applications of Time Unit Plan - Year 5 and Year 6
This Mathematics unit addresses the concepts of 12- and 24-hour time, timetables and timelines.
- 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