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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Elapsed Time Trivia Game
Play an interactive Maths game show to practise telling time and calculating elapsed time.
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Using Metric Units of Area Worksheets
Use this set of three measurement math worksheets to help your students understand the concept of measuring area in metric units.
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Measuring Capacity – Reading Scales Worksheet
Use this capacity worksheet to give students practice at reading scales on containers to measure capacity.
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Converting Units of Capacity Worksheet
A worksheet that focuses on converting units of capacity.
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Capacity Vs Volume Poster
A poster explaining the difference between capacity and volume.
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Length Vocabulary Poster
A poster that explains the concept of length and lists associated vocabulary.
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Mass Investigation - How Heavy Are the Objects in Your Classroom?
A mathematics investigation involving mass, 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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Measurement Conversion Worksheets - Units of Time
Use a set of printable measurement conversion worksheets to practice converting units of time.
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Elapsed Time Printables (Digital Clocks)
Download a pack of differentiated Elapsed Time worksheets to help your students practise finding elapsed time using digital clocks.
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Ordering Days of the Week Worksheets
Practise ordering weekdays with a set of printable Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow - Days of the Week Worksheets.
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Days of the Week - Months in a Year Word Search Worksheets
Practise reading and spelling the days of the week and months of the year with printable Day and Month Word Search worksheets.
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Clock Worksheet Cut and Paste– 5-Minute Intervals
Use a clock worksheet to cut, paste and build a clock with five minute increments.
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Measuring, Comparing and Ordering Height Worksheet
A worksheet to use when learning about measuring length using informal units.
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Measuring Mass with Informal Units Worksheet
A worksheet to use when exploring mass and how to measure it with informal units.
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Telling Time Test - Nearest 5 Minutes
Assess your student's abilities to tell time to the nearest five minutes with a printable telling time assessment.
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Converting Units of Time Test Pack
Assess your students’ abilities to convert units of time with a set of differentiated time conversion tests.
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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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3-Act Maths Tasks - Time Word Problems
Practise problem-solving skills and time conversions with a printable pack of 3 Act Maths Task worksheets.
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24-Hour Time Sort Worksheet
Match 12 and 24-hour time with a cut and paste time conversion worksheet.
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Elapsed Time With Analogue Clocks – Worksheet Pack
Review elapsed time concepts with a set of printable elapsed time practice sheets.
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Time and Elapsed Time - Task Cards
Solve a variety of time and elapsed time problems with a set of Elapsed Time to the Hour and Half-Hour task cards.
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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 to the Minute and Elapsed Time – Teaching PowerPoint
Teach telling the time to the nearest minute and calculate elapsed time with this 18-slide PowerPoint for teachers.
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How Much Does it Measure? Estimating Units Interactive (Mixed Units)
Estimate units of mass, volume, temperature, length, and more with an engaging, interactive measurement game.
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Selecting Units of Length - Sorting Activity
A sorting activity to help students identify lengths and distances that should be measured in millimetres, centimetres, metres and kilometres.
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Time Conversion Chart - Year 5 Maths
Help your Year 5 Maths students learn to convert units of time with a printable Time Conversion Chart.
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Months and Seasons Worksheet - Matching Activity
Order the months of the year and match them with their corresponding seasons with a cut-and-paste activity.
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Tick Tock Time Conversion Task Cards
Review how to convert units of time with a pack of printable time conversion task cards.
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Telling Time Task Cards - Hour & Half-Hour
Practise telling time to the hour and half hour with a set of printable Telling Time Task Cards.
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Telling the Time Bingo – Hour, Half-hour, Quarter To and Quarter Past
Play a few rounds of Telling the Time Bingo to practise telling the time to the quarter hours.
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Measuring Area Using Informal Units Worksheets
Use this set of area worksheets to help your students practise measuring the area of regular and irregular shapes using informal (square) units.
- 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