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Vroom vroom.
Beep beep.
Honk honk.
Do you have an early elementary student who loves all things related to transportation? Is your child ready to start measuring objects using a ruler?
If you answered yes to these questions, I’ve got just the resource you need to help your students practice measurement skills in a fun and engaging way!
My Transportation Toys Measurement Activity Pack — like all others 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 delightful transportation toys to notice that they are “working.”
This hands-on activity will feel like play!
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 Transportation Toys Measurement Activity
With this activity, kids will work on measuring images of different transportation toys (cars, trains, planes) with a ruler.
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 toy helicopter is 5 inches tall.
When measuring with inches, kids will also find that some objects are measured in half inches, such as this backhoe 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 toy car 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. This activity is perfect for kids who love cars, tractors, trains, and other things that move.
Want a copy of my Transportation Toys Measurement Activity?
Get it as part of the Measurement Activity Packs Bundle:
Or get this product by clicking the button below.
More transportation resources
More transportation posts from Gift of Curiosity:
For more transportation activities featuring cars, trains, planes and more, see my Transportation Unit Pinterest board.
