Measure Up

What you need

• a wall
• construction paper

What to do

Put a piece of construction paper on the wall from the floor up to about 2 metres. Have your child stand next to the paper. Mark his/her height and write their name beside it. Check their height each month. Note how much they grow over the year.

Try measuring other parts of the body like outlines of their hands and feet.

What they learn

They learn to measure and compare their height and body parts over time.

Encouragement questions

• Are you getting taller or shorter each month?
• Why are some people taller or shorter than you?
• Is your hand larger or smaller than those around you?
• Do you grow more each month than your mum or dad?

Extra activity

Find objects, such as blocks, that your child can use to informally measure their height. Ask them questions such as “how many block’s tall are you?”