Human Scale

What You Need

Any two items from your shopping cart.

What To Do

In this activity, you and your child will explore weight. While picking up groceries, give your child two items (such as a loaf of bread and a bunch of bananas) from your grocery cart. Ask your child to tell you which item is heavier and which is lighter. Model and encourage your child to use measurement words like heavier and lighter when describing the items in your cart. As you add new items to your cart, switch one or both of the items your child is holding, and ask them to judge new pairings. You can also create other measurement “challenges,” such as inviting your child to try to find the heaviest or the lightest item in your cart.

What To Know

Comparing the weights of objects is a great way to show your children that math is everywhere! While your child may be familiar with measurement words like tall, short, big, and small, weight may be a form of measurement with which your child is less familiar. Introducing your child to weight as a form of measurement and developing measurement words like light/lighter/lightest and heavy/heavier/heaviest will help your child develop a larger understanding of measurement.