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You are here: Home / Play / Exploration Centers / Math Activities for Preschoolers: Measurement Exploration Center

January 14, 2015 By Chelsey 3 Comments

Math Activities for Preschoolers: Measurement Exploration Center

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One of the keys to making math fun and meaningful for kids is to provide a lot of hands-on exploration. Here’s one of our favorite math activities for preschoolers that does just that, a simple measurement exploration center- perfect for encouraging all kinds of hands-on learning with various measurement tools!

Follow our Math for Kids Pinterest board!

 

Math Fun with a Measurement Exploration Center~ BuggyandBuddy.com

 

My preschooler has been showing quite a bit of interest in numbers and measuring lately. He loves getting on the bathroom scale and asking me “how much he costs today” (too cute!), and I often see him with his dad’s tape measure measuring things all around the house.

 

I decided to build on his interest in measurement by setting up a simple measurement exploration center in our home. It’s been such a fun experience watching him explore all the measurement tools on his own and with his sister, and it’s also provided many learning opportunities for us to experience together! (This post contains affiliate links.)

How to Set Up a Measurement Exploration Center

Setting up a measurement exploration center is super simple. Start by collecting various measurement tools from around your house or classroom and placing them all in one place where they are easily accessible. Our measurement center includes: a few wooden rulers, a wooden yardstick, a tape measure, a kitchen scale, and our Inchimals math activity (which is awesome on its own by the way)! I also added some sticky notes and crayons too.  The kids love to use them to record ideas and findings.

 

how to set up a measurement exploration center

Using a Measurement Exploration Center

Theo was absolutely thrilled to come home from preschool and find our measurement center waiting for him! He was quite content exploring it all on his own and later with Lucy once she got home from school.

 

He started by exploring the kitchen scale. He weighed toy cars, books, and anything else he could think of.

 

preschool math: kids exploring a scale

 

He obviously couldn’t read the scale properly yet, but with this activity he gained experience in comparing the weight of objects. He realized certain items were heavier than others and made the arrow on the scale go further. (Later in the week the kids made it a mission to find things that would make the arrow go completely around the scale.)

 

exploring measurement in preschool

 

As the week went on, I’d often find one or both kids using different measurement tools around the house. Sometimes they were content on their own, and sometimes when a learning opportunity presented itself, I’d jump in and do the activity with them.

 

One day I found Theo using the tape measure to measure books in our family room. I showed him how to make sure the edge of the book was lined right up with the start of the tape measure. We measured all kinds of books together, and Theo loved discovering which numbers the books would go up to on the tape measure!

 

measuring in preschool

 

Some mornings Theo would wake up and immediately get to measuring. He used the yardstick to see if he could find things around the house that were taller than the yardstick.

 

learning measurement with kids

 

He also discovered he could put two rulers together to compare the different heights of objects.

 

using a ruler with kids

 

Our Inchimals came into play often during the week. Theo enjoyed lining them up both vertically and flat on the floor to compare the lengths of the pieces.

 

measuring with Inchimals

 

I also found him lining them up along the yardstick!

 

exploring measurement

 

When the kids would play with the measurement tools together, I’d often find Lucy writing on the sticky notes. She told me she was working on a measurement book!

 

writing and math for kids

 

And sometimes when I walked into the family room,  I’d find things like this. It must have taken a lot of patience to stack all the Inchimals onto the scale- LOL!

 

preschool measurement center

 

Our measurement exploration center has been out an entire week now, and it’s still being used in so many ways. I’m thinking of turning it into a dramatic play center later in the week- maybe a farmer’s market stand or grocery store!

 

Creating a Measurement Exploration Center for the Home of Classroom~ BuggyandBuddy.com

 

 

Find more math activities in our ebook!

Learn more about it here, or buy it now here!

Fizz, Pop, Bang! 40 Playful Science and Math Activities for Kids

 

Measurement Exploration Center: Hands-on measurement activities for kids- math for preschool and kindergarten

Filed Under: Exploration Centers, Math, Preschool Tagged With: Math, measurement

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Comments

  1. Clarissa H says

    January 14, 2015 at 7:28 pm

    I super duper love this! So many times math can be intimidating, but this is a great (inviting!) way to explore numbers in a non-threatening way. I’ll be setting up something similar for my boys this week!

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Thoughtful Spot Weekly Blog Hop #72 - Stir The Wonder says:
    January 26, 2015 at 3:01 am

    […] Peg Activities from The Practical Mom Family Game Night: Build a Letter from Growing Book by Book Measurement Exploration Center from Buggy and Buddy Straw Fine Motor Busy Play from Mommy Needs a Coffee […]

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  2. Hands-On Measurement Activities - Buggy and Buddy says:
    August 18, 2015 at 9:05 am

    […] Measurement Exploration Center from Buggy and Buddy […]

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Welcome to Buggy and Buddy! I'm Chelsey, a former teacher and parent living on the central coast of California. I love sharing crafts, science, STEM and STEAM activities, free printables and more! Read More…

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