Children's ability to understand measure is covered by the early learning goal, 'Use language such as "greater", "smaller", "heavier" or "lighter" to compare quantities' (Curriculum guidance for the foundation stage, p80). Practitioners need to be aware of how children may progress towards this goal if they are to assess children's development correctly.
Stepping stones
The main stepping stones are:
* Observe and use positional language
* Use size language such as 'big'/'little'
* Match objects by recognising similarities
* Show curiosity, talk about and compare objects and shapes, how they are the same or different
* Order two items by length or height
* Cut material, paper or ribbon to size
* Order two or three items by length
* Order two items by weight or capacity
* Instruct a pro)grammable toy.
(See Curriculum guidance for the foundation stage, p78-80) Progression
During the course of the day, practitioners should be alert to the actions and words that indicate how a child is progressing toward the early learning goal. The usual progression in comparing quantities is: A child:
* uses vague words such as 'big', 'little'
* has little sense of size, trying to fit, say, a small doll's frock on to a large teddy
* does not distinguish between size and weight, expecting a balloon to be heavy or a kilogram weight to be lighter than it is
* uses vague words rather than more precise ones (for example, says 'big' rather than 'bigger' or 'taller')
* uses more precise words of measurement such as 'tall', 'short', 'heavy'
* uses comparative words like 'shorter', 'heavier', rather than just 'short' or 'heavy'
* makes statements using 'than' (for example, 'This is curlier than that')
* makes a reasonable guess at what will fit, if the child has previous experience (say, which stacking pot will fit in which)
* begins to appreciate that some things (say, balloons) can be large but not heavy
* makes fine comparisons between things that are not very different (for example, 'This cup's got more juice in than that one')
* predicts what will fit in areas where the child has little previous experience (say, which bulb will fit in which pot)
* uses vocabulary of size and weight, appropriately, distinguishing between them (for example, uses 'heavy' and 'heavier' or 'light' and 'lighter' when using the balance, and 'big', 'tall', 'wide' when talking about building)
* deals with imaginary comparisons (for example, 'When Titch gets bigger, the clothes will be too small').
Children will eventually:
* make sensible guesses about what will fit in what, or what is longer/taller/shorter than what (say, whether the rope will stretch from the slide to the end of the climbing frame)
* be able to talk about one thing as 'heavier' or 'lighter' than another, based on the feel of them in their hands
* be able to talk about one thing as 'longer' or 'taller' or 'shorter' than another, based on placing them side by side
* know that counting can help them compare size, capacity or weight (for example, count how many yoghurt potfuls of sand fill the jug)
* know that counting can be used to measure time (as when playing hide and seek)
* understand that length, weight and so on don't change arbitrarily (an amount of water stays the same whether it is in a big jug or a small cup).
What to try
You may want to set up situations to assess whether a child can:
* understand and use comparing words such as 'taller', 'shorter', 'heavier', bigger'
* predict what will fit in what (for example, whether the sand in the jug will fit in the bucket)
* interpret what they see in terms of comparison (for example, understand that if the beans in one pot overflow when poured into another, then the second pot is smaller than the first; and if two necklaces are placed side by side with their ends together, you can tell which one is longer)
* understand that if one child is standing on a brick and the other isn't, the first child is not necessarily taller than the first
* distinguish between weight and size (for example, knows that the little tin of beans is heavier than the big cereal packet)
* put into order three things (for example, order three bears by height), then find where a fourth item fits into the order
* count to compare when measuring (for example, compare heights using big bricks)
* sequence several items, using words such as 'first', 'second' and 'last'.