Early years activity: Non-standard Measures

Children need opportunities to physically experience and compare different types of measures such as length, size and height, so provide lots of opportunity for young children to explore contrasting items to compare their features in terms of measures.

Non-standard measures activity learning aims

Develop mathematical language and understanding.

Resources you will need for this activity

Objects to measure
Range of options for using as measures, e.g. blocks, lengths of string or ribbon, wellies/shoes, paper clips, chain links, pencils, cars etc. (children can also use their own hands and feet to measure).

Non-standard measures activity outline

Show children two objects similar in height and ask them to guess which they think is the tallest. Ask children how they could find out for sure, rather than estimate. Encourage talk about measurements, for example, measuring how tall we are, measuring our feet when we need shoes from the shoe shop; invite children to share their own experiences
Show children your collection of non-standard measures and encourage them to choose one way to measure the objects to determine which is the tallest
Encourage children to explore the non-standard measures to discover the lengths of various objects/areas in the setting, for example using:
- Footsteps to measure the length of corridors or rooms
- Construction bricks to measure the height of footballs
- String or ribbon to measure the length of slides
- Pencils to measure the length and height of tables and chairs
- Hands to measure the length of books
- Cars to measure the width of an outdoor play area
Use mathematical language to describe what children are doing, such as long, longer, tall, tallest, short, shortest, wide, high, short, big, biggest, small, smallest, a lot, few, more, less etc.

How to extend this activity

Provide a basket of non-standard measures for children to continue their explorations, adding items linked to their interests. Provide challenges for example, “I wonder how tall the slide is, what could we use to measure?”

NDNA products to support you with this activity

Disclaimer: Activities with children must always be risk assessed, including for allergies or choking. Children must always have adequate supervision. Resources and materials must always be appropriate for children’s age and stage of development.