A few months ago, Darah asked, “How do you read a tape measure?”
Hmm…an interesting question! She can read the numbers on the measuring tape that her dad uses around the house, but she has figured out that the numbers mean something more than just a simple number.
I thought perhaps the best way to help Darah learn how to measure objects and how to read a tape measure would be by getting one just for her that she can use. Learning Resources has an excellent child’s tape measure!
A tape measure is actually an incredibly useful teaching tool. You can learn increments, fractions, and of course, measurements with it. You can also work on comparisons for the younger kids.
Here’s what we are doing to work on the skill of learning to read a tape measure.
When we are having a “measuring session” I get out a piece of paper and serve as the note taker. Right now we are learning about the foot measurement. The tape measure we have goes up to 4 feet. So we hunt for things that are less than one foot, greater than one foot but less than 2 feet, greater than 2 feet but less than 3 feet, and up to 4 feet in length. It is so cool to see Darah using her critical thinking skills and her estimation skills before the pulls out her tape measure to investigate length. She will often make a guess about how long an item will be. She isn’t often accurate, but this will improve with time, I think. Plus, we try to teach her that it is perfectly fine to be wrong. Better to take a stab at a problem and not get it right than to not try at all!
Does anyone have any tips on how to teach children the concept of inches? I’m not sure how long it will be before we are ready for that task, but I’d like to be prepared once she is!
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I received a complimentary product for review purposes. All thoughts and opinions expressed here are strictly my own.