Teaching Children How to Weigh Things

Teach your child about weights and measures by using familiar items such as groceries, cell phones and grapes. Let him do a little hands-on experimentation, and have paper and pencil ready for him to record his findings. Find an entertaining book or two on the subject and read it with him.

  1. Weigh by Comparison

    • Use unopened groceries with established weights: a five-pound sack of flour, a four-pound sack of sugar or a three-pound bag of apples. Give your child an object to lift, such as a rock from the garden or a head of cabbage, then let them lift a grocery item. Does the rock weigh more or less than the sugar? Is the bag of apples lighter than the cabbage? This is an interesting way to compare the weights of objects if you don't have a scale handy, and to learn the concepts of heavier-than and lighter-than.

    Weigh by Actual Numbers

    • Set up a small kitchen scale, and gather lightweight articles from around the house, such as cell phones or spice bottles. Let your child practice weighing each one and writing the weight down. Have him add and subtract the weights. Ask him to write down how much two spice bottles or three cell phones would weigh, and then let him test his answers. Give him free time to work with the scale and manipulatives, however he chooses.

    Weigh by Estimation

    • Stretch a paper towel across a soup bowl and secure it with a rubber band. Ask your child how many grapes he thinks the towel can hold before tearing, then let him pile on the grapes. Was his estimate close or way off? Try again using aluminum foil or parchment paper. Ask him to explain why the foil holds more grapes than the paper towel. Use objects of varying weights in each trial and ask him why the outcome changes.

    Books About Measuring Weight

    • Younger children might enjoy Pamela Allen's "Who Sank the Boat?" about a cow, a horse, a sheep, a pig and a mouse all trying to sail away. Ask your child before you start to read if he can guess which one sinks the boat. Children ages 8 to 12 might have fun with "The Everything Kids' Science Experiment Book" by Tom Robinson, which includes activities from making water float to measuring gravity.

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