Back to activities
Thinking play

Measure It Hunt

Child finds objects shorter than, longer than, and equal to a reference object, grounding early measurement concretely.

Cartoon illustration of a parent and child at home doing Measure It Hunt.
  • Age6 to 9.5 years
  • Time15 to 30 minutes
  • EnergyModerate
  • CostFree
  • WhereIndoors
  • PrepNone

Your child picks one object as a ruler, then hunts around the home for things that are shorter than it, longer than it, and about the same length.

How to do it

  1. Let your child choose one object to be the measuring stick, such as a spoon, a shoe, or a crayon.
  2. Set up three spots on the floor or table for shorter, longer, and about the same.
  3. Send your child off to find one item that clearly belongs in each spot, comparing directly against the chosen object.
  4. When they bring an item, hold it next to the measuring object together and let them decide which spot it goes in.
  5. Once each spot has a few items, look along the longer pile and put those in order from shortest to longest.

What you need

  • Reference object
  • Household objects

Make it yours

Younger, 5-6 years: Use just two spots, shorter and longer, and skip putting the pile in order. Older, 8-10 years: Introduce a real ruler or tape and record each length in centimetres. Siblings: One child hunts while the other judges the spot, then swap

Try this with your child.

Tell PLAI™ about your child and this moment. It shapes the activity to fit.

Try it in the app