Christmas Measurement Activity

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This week I’m releasing a new printable, my Christmas Measurement Activity pack, that supports children working on measurement skills.

But what is measurement, and why is it important for children to engage in measurement activities?

Measurement is the assignment of a numerical value to describe some characteristic of an object, such as its length or volume.

This printable Christmas Measurement Activity is for children who are ready to use a ruler to measure length in either inches or centimeters. (Children should have a good grasp of numbers before attempting this activity.)

While there are core academic skills at the heart of this activity, kids will be far too engaged with the delightful Christmas images to notice that they are “working.” This hands-on activity will feel like play!

Note: For more Christmas printables your kids will love, see my Christmas Activities for Kids page.

Printable Christmas Measurement Activity: Kids will use a ruler to measure the height of Christmas-related objects in either inches or centimeters, then rank the objects by height from tallest to shortest. Lots of great learning in this low-prep Christmas printable activity! #Christmas #STEM #STEAM #GiftOfCuriosity #handsonlearning #measurement #measuring || Gift of Curiosity

The developmental progression of measurement skills

An understanding of measurement begins early on when children compare one object to another. This may occur when a child asks for the bigger slice of cake or when they notice that one bag of groceries is heavier than another.

Later, children may measure objects using non-standard units, or units that are invented and will vary from person to person. For example, a child may use footsteps to measure the length of the floor or pencils to measure the height of their desk.

Ultimately, we want children to understand and use standard units of measurement, or units that are universally available and are the same size for everyone. These include units for length such as inches and centimeters, units for volume such as gallons and liters, and units for weight such as pounds and kilograms.

Using the Christmas Measurement Activity

With this activity, kids will work on measuring Christmas-related objects with a ruler. Options are included to measure objects in both inches and centimeters.

(Be sure to print the appropriate pages depending on whether you want your child to work with inches or centimeters.)

For example, kids will use the inches side of the ruler to discover that the Christmas tree is 5 inches tall.

When measuring with inches, kids will also find that some objects are measured in half inches, such as this Christmas stocking that measures 3.5 inches tall.