St. Patrick’s Day Measurement Activity to practice using a ruler

If there’s one thing I’m passionate about, it’s making learning fun.

And that goes double when it comes to holiday learning!

Kids love holidays, and I love any opportunity to capitalize on their interests to foster learning.

And that’s why I know you are going to love my St. Patrick’s Day Measurement Activity Pack, which gives kids a chance to practice some important math skills while celebrating this Irish holiday.

My St. Patrick’s Day Measurement Activity Pack — like all of the packs found in the Measurement Activity Packs Bundle — is designed for children who have a good grasp of numbers and are ready to use a ruler to measure the length of objects in either inches or centimeters.

While there are core academic skills at the heart of this activity, kids will be far too engaged with the fun St. Patrick’s Day imagery to notice that they are “working.”

This hands-on activity will feel like play!

Note: Find more St. Patrick’s Day printables on my St. Patrick’s Day Activities for Kids page.

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.

This activity is for kids who are ready to measure with standard units.

Using the St. Patrick’s Day Measurement Activity

With this activity, kids will work on measuring images of objects related to St. Patrick’s Day.

Options are included in the printable to measure objects in both inches and centimeters, so you can pick the option you prefer (or do both!). Just 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 this leprechaun is 5 inches tall.

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

If you choose the option to measure in centimeters rather than inches, all of the measurements will be in whole centimeters rather than half centimeters.

The rainbow pictured below, for example, measures 12 cm tall.

A worksheet is included for kids to record their measurements. (Separate worksheets are included for inches and centimeters.)

After measuring all the objects, kids will rank them in order from tallest to shortest. (See right column in the photo below.)

Lots of great skills in one simple-to-prepare activity.

Want a copy of my St. Patrick’s Day Measurement Activity?

Get it as part of the St. Patrick’s Day Printables Bundle.

Or get it as part of the Measurement Activity Packs Bundle.

Or get this product by clicking the button below.

More St. Patrick’s Day resources

St. Patrick’s Day posts from Gift of Curiosity:

• Magic leprechaun rocks
• St. Patrick’s Day Printables Pack
• Build a 3D rainbow
• Color mixing rainbow challenge

For more kid-friendly St. Patrick’s Day activities, see my St. Patrick’s Day Activities for Kids page and my St. Patrick’s Day Pinterest board.