One of my favorite hands-on skills to practice in 1st grade is nonstandard measurement. It seems like our measurement unit always falls around Valentine’s Day, so I thought, what better way to tie in the special holiday than with some free candy heart printables?! Read on to learn more about this Candy Heart Math Measurement activity and how to use it in your classroom.
Candy Heart Math
This Candy Heart Math Measurement activity is perfect to use during your nonstandard measurement unit in 1st grade. It can even be used as a great review activity for 2nd graders.
I like to use it during whole group instruction so students can collaborate with their friends before moving onto math centers for the day. This would also be a great small group math activity or even independent practice activity. It’s super versatile and you can use it however you’d like during the busy Valentine’s Day season! When I did this with my class in a whole group setting, it took us about 25 minutes.
How To Use The Candy Heart Math Activity
To begin, each child will need their own individual box of candy hearts and a free candy heart printables recording sheet. There are 2 options available in the free download (which you can grab later in this blog post!).
Students will grab various school supplies from their desk to practice nonstandard measurement.
Some great options are:
- Notebooks
- Scissors
- Pencils
- Crayons
- Glue sticks
- Glue bottles
- Markers
- Pencil boxes
- Folders
During this time, discuss the different lengths and how objects can be measured with other objects, not just rulers or measuring sticks.
You can have students make estimates before measuring each object and recording their answers and final measurements on their recording sheet. Then, they can take turns sharing and comparing their results with the class or a neighbor once finished to see if anyone came up with a different result.
This is the perfect activity to keep students engaged on such a crazy, sugar-filled day. You can absolutely use these free candy heart printables anytime of year as well. It’s easy to differentiate for 1st or 2nd grade with 2 different recording sheets available.
Free Candy Heart Printables
If you’d like to use this candy heart math activity with your students, simply fill out the form below and it’ll be delivered straight to your inbox!
If you’re looking for more measurement activities to use with your class, check out these resources below, available in my website store or on TPT.