Estimating metric measurements exercises with answers

Your child builds a mental picture of metric units by matching each object to a sensible measure.

• Length: millimeters, centimeters, meters and kilometers (a pen, a table, a jump rope, the road between two towns)
• Mass: grams (an apple)
• Capacity: milliliters and liters (a teaspoon, a bottle of cooking oil)

One question also offers inches against millimeters, a good reminder that the US uses two systems. The skill matches 4.MD.A.1 (relative sizes of units such as km, m, cm; kg, g; l, ml) and prepares the conversions of 6.RP.A.3.d.

Gather a few benchmarks before printing: a paper clip is about 1 centimeter wide, a door is about 2 meters tall, a water bottle holds about half a liter, a bag of sugar has a mass of about 1 kilogram.

• Let your child hold or point to the benchmark that matches each question.
• Ask them to say why the other choice is impossible.
• Check the answers on page two and redo any question they guessed.

Watch for these typical slips:

• Milli- versus kilo-: children read the number and ignore the prefix, so 304 kilometers for a jump rope looks fine to them.
• Grams versus pounds: an apple is about 200 grams; 200 pounds is the weight of an adult.
• Liters for small amounts: a teaspoon holds milliliters, never liters.

Next step: the customary estimating sheet, then comparing and converting metric units in this series.