How to Measure Length

There are many ways to measure the length of an object or a room. We could use the length of our hand to measure like pioneers did long ago. Or we might measure a driveway by placing one heel in front of the other toe to see how many of our foot lengths the driveway is. The problem is that not all hands and feet are the same length. We need a standard way of measuring things so everyone can understand how long something is. Standard ways to measure lengths include using rulers and yardsticks.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Book
• Teacher's desk
• Yardstick
• Ruler
• 8-oz. paper cups

1. Have the smallest child in the class measure the length of the teacher's desk using her hand widths. Write her answer on the board. Have the tallest child in the class do the same thing, and then the teacher. The results are not the same because the measurements used were not standard ones. Everyone's hands are not the same width.

2. Ask the same two students to again carefully measure the length of the teacher's desk using a ruler. The answers should be the same.

3. Place a book on a desk and ask three students to use a ruler to measure the length of the book. If there are any discrepancies, have two more students measure the book and discuss how to read the ruler accurately.

4. Have three students use paper cups to measure the length of the teacher's desk. The measurements should be the same since they were all using the measuring devices of the same size, even though the cups are not considered "standard measuring devices." Cups like these may be wider and shorter in some places of the world. Therefore, they are not "standard."

5. Ask three students to use a yardstick to carefully measure the length of the room. All three measurements should be the same since they were using the same standard measuring tool.

Tips & Warnings

• Remind students to go slowly and measure carefully.
• So that all students get a turn, expand the length measuring explanation using other standard and non-standard tools.

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