Continue to use the maths starter document from last week’s page.

Length and Height

This week we will be having a look at some practical activities related to length and height. Children begin by using language to describe length and height, e.g. the tree is tall, the pencil is short. Encourage the children to use more specific mathematical vocabulary relating to length (longer, shorter) and height (taller, shorter). They move on to make indirect comparisons using identical objects such as blocks or cubes to measure each item, e.g. The sand tray is 5 blocks long. The table is 4 blocks long. The sand tray is longer than the table.

Opportunities for comparing height or length will happen through children’s talk and play. They may compare the height of their tower with a sibling or family member, see who has the longest scarf, who is the tallest, or who can thread the longest string of beads.

Ask your child to compare their height with a family member. Ask them if they can find someone who is taller than them, shorter than them or even the same size of them. 

You could also measure by counting how many of their feet long is an object or you could lie on the floor and let them measure how many feet tall you are. It is fun to draw around the outline of your foot on paper or card, cut it out and find objects that are longer than their foot, shorter or about the same size. Whichever activities you choose to do, have lots of fun together.