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PSPKK1238 Comments

How long is an inch? (an introduction to linear measurement)

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the measured mom - how long is an inch

Looking for an introduction to linear measurement? Try this simple activity at home or in the classroom.

Today I introduced my Four to linear measurement.  His sister (5) is familiar with the concept from kindergarten, but I found an activity that would challenge them both.

First I got out a ruler and asked my Four,

“Do you know what this is?”

“A ruler.”

“What number is at the end of it?”

“12.”

“Do you know what each of these little marks are called?”

“Lines.”

“Those are called inches.  When something is this long, we call it an inch.  Today we’re going to go on a hunt for things that are the same size as an inch.”

“Like a speck of dust?”  (This is how he refers to things that are very tiny – smaller than a speck of dust!)

“Well, we’ll try to find things that we can actually pick up.  Let’s get out the box of color tiles.  Each of those is one inch long. “

child holding tile

Here’s my little girl’s hand modeling a color tile.  These are square inch tiles useful for many things — sorting, counting, measuring, and more. Of course you c0uld use anything that is one inch long as a measuring tool.  We each took a color tile and marched to the playroom, where we began our search for items that were just about an inch in length.

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child holding tile and toy mouse

This toy mouse  was about one inch long.

child holding chart

My daughter drew a picture of the mouse, I labeled it, and we glued it to a paper labeled “One inch long.”

child with chartHere are the other things we found. The kids took turns drawing the pictures.  After we finished this, I told them it was time to hunt for things that were shorter than an inch.  They weren’t sure where to begin until I suggested looking in the pantry.  Suddenly the game became a lot more fun!

child comparing tile to shelled peanut

A shelled peanut is shorter than an inch.

chart

Here are the results of our “shorter than an inch” search.  After that we had only to find items that were longer than an inch, which did not require using the color tile at all.

chartOf course we could have gone on forever with this one, but my Two and One were waking up from their naps.  It was time to bring our measuring adventure to an end.

The kids learned a lot from this simple and interesting activity that required almost no prep work from me.

 

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Filed Under: Time, money & measurement Tagged With: measurement, kindergarten

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Reader Interactions

8 Comments

  1. harris nickel

    March 9, 2022 at 4:57 pm

    thanks

    Reply to this comment
  2. Katie @ Gift of Curiosity

    March 14, 2013 at 11:21 am

    This is a great introduction to measurement! Love these ideas! Pinning now!

    Reply to this comment
    • annageig

      March 14, 2013 at 8:02 pm

      Thanks for checking it out, Katie! Tomorrow I’ll post some books for the letter “I.” There are some good books in there to support this concept, too.

      Reply to this comment
  3. annageig

    March 12, 2013 at 2:12 pm

    Thanks for the comment, Jessica! I hope your son enjoys this.

    Reply to this comment
  4. Jessica @ Play Trains!

    March 12, 2013 at 3:13 am

    My son is really into measuring tapes, and recently he started playing with rulers. I think this would be a great activity for him. Thanks! Pinning again, and now following you. Have a great Tuesday!

    Reply to this comment
  5. Stephanie

    March 11, 2013 at 1:33 pm

    We tried it this morning – thanks for the great idea!

    Reply to this comment
    • annageig

      March 12, 2013 at 2:11 pm

      Glad you tried it!

      Reply to this comment

Trackbacks

  1. 30 of my Favorite Hands - On Measurement Activities says:
    February 17, 2020 at 7:51 am

    […] How long is an Inch? This Activity from the Measured Mom is a great hands-on lesson to learn about what an inch is. […]

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