Do you how many cups are in a quart? How many pints in a gallon? Don’t feel bad if you don’t…I don’t either off hand! We came to the topic of volume measurement in our math studies, and even though I had all the necessary visuals on the table (our gallon milk jug, a measuring cup, etc) it was not clicking for my son.
I started searching for something we could make to reinforce conversions, and came across Gallon Guy! I love the visual help he gives, and I tweaked the original project a little.
Gallon Guy starts with a body (Gallon) and works his way down to his fingers and toes (cups). I actually used Gallon Guy today when I was trying to make 4 cups of Gatorade mix, and I needed 3 scoops for 1 quart. Cups to quarts? Gallon Guy to the rescue!
You need 5 different colors of paper of the same size. Start with one color for his body & label his chest with Gallon Guy. For his arms/legs, take the next sheet and cut it into 4 equal parts. Label these Quart and attach them to Gallon Guy. Take another sheet of paper, and cut it into 8 pieces. Label each one Pint and attach these to the arms/legs. Be sure to leave a little space between the pieces so your child can see the different parts. Now, take another color paper and cut it into 16 pieces, all equal in size. These will be labeled Cup and added as Gallon Guy’s fingers & toes. Last, cut a square out of your last color to give Gallon Guy a head!
It doesn’t really matter what size paper you begin with, but you need to make sure each smaller part is cut from the same size as the part above it. The fingers/toes (Cup) are Pints cut in half, and so on.
I also found a few other graphic representations of measurement conversion that might be helpful…you never know what will click with your child.
How about this web-style graphic organizer from Jordans Marvelous Mind? I like how it branches out…perhaps your kids will be drawn to this style of organization:
Here is a different version of the example above from Jenning’s Jungle, except everything builds in instead of branching out. This version visually appeals more to me. See what your kids think!
I know I am excited about the picture above…it is exactly what I need to help me remember!
Check out these other posts on fun ways to learn about measurement and math…