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.
- Free Plan
Days of the Week – Worksheet
A comprehension worksheet for a magazine article from the Foundation magazine (Issue 3).
- Plus Plan
Weighing Scales Templates
A variety of weighing scales templates for students to practise reading scales to measure grams and kilograms.
- Plus Plan
Time Machine Match-Up Activity
A fun sorting activity that consolidates knowledge of time to the hour, half-hour and to the quarter-hour.
- Plus Plan
Capacity Maths Investigation — Filling the Fish Tank Activity
A mathematics investigation involving capacity, embedded in a real-world context.
- Plus Plan
Volume Investigation - Creating the Land of Cubes
A mathematics investigation involving volume, embedded in a real-world context.
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Marvin Measurement's Treasure Box - Whole Class Game
A whole class game that consolidates your students' knowledge of measurement concepts - in a fun way!
- Plus Plan
Which Objects Have Capacity Worksheet
A worksheet to use when exploring the concept of capacity.
- Plus Plan
My Recipe Rules - Measurement Worksheet
A worksheet using money and measurement concepts.
- Free Plan
Four Seasons Spinner Activity — Southern Hemisphere
Print a four seasons spinner activity to expand students' understanding of the different times of the year.
- Plus Plan
Fun Volume Activities
Bring maths to life with these fun volume activities that will have students building prisms, going on a scavenger hunt and estimating volumes!
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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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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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Which Is Heavier? – Interactive Game
Have your students practise identifying heavier or lighter objects with an engaging “Which is Heavier" interactive game.
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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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Time to the Minute Poke Cards
Practise reading analogue clocks and telling time to the minute with this set of self-checking poke cards.
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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 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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Volume of Rectangular Prisms – Interactive Activity
Practise calculating the volume of rectangular prisms with this interactive activity.
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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.
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Wonderings – Worksheet
A comprehension worksheet for a magazine article from the Foundation magazine (Bonus Issue).
- Plus Plan
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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Time Banner
A 3-page banner to use on your 'Time' display board.
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Informal Measurement - Task Cards
A set of task cards to use when learning about informal measurement.
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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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3D Popcorn Box Template
Create a 3D popcorn box from a 2D net.
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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.
- Plus Plan
Months of the Year Poster - Northern Hemipshere
A poster displaying the months of the year.
- Plus Plan
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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Time Teaching Resource Pack
A collection of resources exploring time concepts.
- Plus Plan
Reading Timetables
A 60 minute lesson in which students will read and interpret timetables and calculate elapsed time.
- 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