Measurement Basics
Kindergarten · Math · Study Guide
Measurement is all about comparing — is one thing longer, shorter, heavier, or lighter than another?
Measurement means figuring out the size of something. How long is it? How tall is it? How heavy is it? In kindergarten, we don't use rulers or scales — we compare things directly and use words to describe what we find.
Length is how long something is from one end to the other. To compare lengths, you can line things up at the same starting point and see which one goes further. The one that goes further is longer. The pencil is longer than the crayon if the pencil goes past where the crayon ends.
Height is how tall something is from bottom to top. You are probably taller than a dog but shorter than a door. When you stand back-to-back with a friend, you can see who is taller!
Weight is about how heavy something is. You can feel weight when you pick things up. A backpack full of books feels heavier than an empty lunchbox. We use words like heavy, light, heavier, and lighter to compare weights.
We can also measure using everyday objects as tools! How many crayons long is your book? How many steps from your desk to the door? Using objects to measure is called nonstandard measurement and it's a great way to start understanding the idea of measuring before using rulers and scales.
| What We Measure | Describing Words | Example Comparison |
|---|---|---|
| Length | long, short, longer, shorter | A pencil is longer than a crayon |
| Height | tall, short, taller, shorter | A giraffe is taller than a dog |
| Weight | heavy, light, heavier, lighter | A rock is heavier than a feather |
| Size (overall) | big, small, bigger, smaller | An elephant is bigger than a mouse |
| Measurement Tool (Nonstandard) | What You Can Measure |
|---|---|
| Crayons lined end-to-end | How many crayons long is your desk? |
| Steps | How many steps from your chair to the door? |
| Your hand span | How many hand spans wide is your book? |
| Paper clips | How many paper clips long is your pencil? |
Key terms
- measurement
- The process of finding the size, amount, or degree of something
- length
- How long something is from one end to the other
- height
- How tall something is from the bottom to the top
- weight
- How heavy something is
- nonstandard measurement
- Using everyday objects (like blocks or crayons) to measure instead of rulers
Practice questions
A pencil is longer than a paper clip. Which word describes the paper clip compared to the pencil?
- longer
- taller
- shorter
- heavier
Show answer
Answer: shorter
Height measures how tall something is from bottom to top.
Show answer
Answer: True
A rock feels ___ than a feather. (heavier or lighter)
Show answer
Answer: heavier
You want to measure how long your table is using blocks. What kind of measurement is this?
- standard measurement
- weight measurement
- nonstandard measurement
- height measurement
Show answer
Answer: nonstandard measurement
When comparing lengths, you should line objects up at the same starting point.
Show answer
Answer: True
Fun facts
- Long ago, people measured length using their own body parts — a 'foot' was literally the length of a person's foot! But everyone's feet are different, which caused lots of confusion, so we eventually agreed on a standard measurement.
- The tallest tree ever measured was a coast redwood in California called Hyperion. It stands 380 feet tall — that's taller than a 35-story building!
- Newborn babies are about 50 centimeters (around 20 inches) long. By the time you're 18, you might be over 150 centimeters tall. That's 3 times longer than when you were born!
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