A Measuring Pairs Game

This is a simple activity for children to practice comparing units of measurement. It is based on the game of pairs, or 'Concentration'.

The resource consists of 18 pairs of cards featuring metric measurements for capacity, weight and linear measurement.

To make this maths resource: downloads the Attachment and print out the four page pdf, cut into separate cards and laminate if you wish.

To play the game: the cards are mixed, and dealt face down into a grid or series of rows. In turn each player chooses two cards and turns them face up. If the card values match, for example:

1/2 Litre pairs with 500 millilitres

1 metre pairs with 100 centimetres

5 kilogrammes pairs with 5000 grammes

... that player wins the pair, and plays again. If the card measurements are not a match, they are both turned face down again and play passes to the player on the left. The game ends when the last pair has been picked up. The winner is the person with the most pairs.

Colour?

The measurements are printed in colour to assist children in discriminating between length, capacity and weight when playing the game and/or when sorting the cards. However, if you choose to print in black this will make the game slightly harder and potentially improve the focus on the units themselves.

Alternatives:

• Clearly, reducing the number of cards will make the game easier - perhaps when first played it would be useful to focus on only one form of measurement.
• The cards can also be used in other ways:
  • take all of the length cards and arrange them in order
  • choose a card at random and instead of saying what is written on it, state an alternative, equal measure.

This is the resource:

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