Comparing Mass: Heavier and Lighter...

This week in Maths, we have been learning all about mass. We explored what the words heavier and lighter mean and practised comparing objects using a balance scale.

The children enjoyed placing different objects onto the scales and watching what happened. We talked about which side went down and what that tells us about the weight of each object.

Key questions we explored:
Which object is heavier? How do you know?
Which object is lighter? How do you know?
What has happened to the balance scale?

The children practised using full sentences such as:
The ___ is heavier than the ___.
The ___ is lighter than the ___.
I think the ___ is heavier than the ___ because…

How you can help at home

You don’t need special equipment to practise this at home.

Try this simple activity together:

• Find two objects from around the house (for example: a toy car and a spoon, a book and a teddy, an apple and an orange).
• Hold one in each hand and feel which one is heavier.
• Ask your child to say which object is heavier and which is lighter.
• Encourage them to use a full sentence:
The apple is heavier than the spoon.

You could also use the bath or washing up bowl to explore floating and sinking with supervision.

This is a great way to build confidence with comparing, predicting and explaining ideas using maths language. :)