Each week Momondealz [1] brings you a kids craft that is fun, educational, and frugal. For the remainder of July and August, she will be concentrating on kindergarten skills.
Materials:
2 sheets construction paper
5-10 sheets of white computer paper
Paper clips
Crayons, markers
Yarn, string, or ribbon
1 ruler or tape measure
Hole punch
Directions:
1. Show your child a ruler or tape measure and ask them what it is used for. Discuss that when you measure items with inches or centimeters, it’s called standard measurement. Tell them sometimes you don’t have those items available so you can use other things to measure with. The possibilities are endless but we chose to use paper clips.
2. Trace your child’s foot on one sheet of paper and measure it with paper clips. Record the number.
3. Trace your child’s hand on a sheet of paper and measure it with paper clips. Record the number.
4. Have your child lay down and stretch yarn to the length of their body and cut it. Stretch the piece out in order to measure it with paper clips. Record the number.
5. Fill in the other pages of the book with any other things you would like recorded about your child. You can measure their waists, arms, legs, favorite toy, favorite book, etc.
6. Have your child decorate the front cover of the book and put the title “All About ______(child’s name).
7. Put the papers together and hole punch, then thread yarn through the holes to hold the book together. You now have a perfect momento of your child AND you helped them learn about nonstandard measurement at the same time!
Educational Applications:
1. Math/Science: Recording data and using nonstandard measurement are kindergarten skills so this craft fits pefectly. You can also use the ruler or tape measure to make comparisons between standard and nonstandard results.
2. Lanuguage Arts: Discuss parts of a book (front cover, back cover, pages, etc). You can even make a table of contents for your book!