Introduce nonstandard measuring tools such as Unifix cubes, paper clips, apples or toy cars, to children to familiarize them with the concept of measuring. Students can estimate the dimensions of objects in the classroom, such as how many paper clips tall they think their desks are or how many apples wide the chalk tray is. Show them how to measure with their nonstandard items to check the accuracy of their estimates. Children can also do this activity at home by measuring appliances, toys or siblings.
Help the children understand the difference between nonstandard measurement tools and standard ones by reading "How Big is a Foot?" by Rolf Myller. In the book, a king wants to make a bed for his queen as a birthday surprise. He measures around the queen, who is lying down, with his feet and gives the measurement to his apprentice carpenter, who measures using his own small feet when he builds the bed. The bed is too small, and the king throws the apprentice in jail. Have students playing apprentices measure another playing the queen for a bed, then mark the bed's measurements on butcher paper. Students will learn, as the apprentice does in the book, that the carpenter and the king need a standard tool to measure for the queen's bed.
Explore standard measuring tools such as rulers, measuring tapes, seamstress tapes and a trundle wheel. Give students time to examine each and explore how it is used and whether it measures centimeters, inches, feet or meters.
Familiarize students with standard measuring tools by giving them a list of classroom items to measure. They should first estimate what the measurements will be and then check to see how close they came. Have students use the seamstress measuring tape to measure the circumference of their heads and the length of their legs, arms, hands and feet.