Measuring games
Choose a game, or try a different year.
Year 1
Year 2
Year 3
Year 4
Year 5
Year 6
For parents and teachers
These maths games bring together related learning across Years 1 to 6. Start with a familiar skill, then try the next challenge when your child is ready. A school may teach these ideas in a different order; use the curriculum statements below to choose a suitable game.
The quoted headings and statements come from the National Curriculum in England. Every game has its own explanation and free printable. Talk through a question together before playing independently, and use the printable to return to a tricky idea away from the screen.
Notes on each game and its curriculum statement
Key Stage 1
Year 1: O'clock and half past
Measurement: “tell the time to the hour and half past the hour and draw the hands on a clock face to show these times”
Year 1 pupils learn to tell the time to the hour and half past the hour, and to draw the hands on a clock face to show these times. The two hands do different jobs: the long minute hand shows the minutes and the short hour hand shows the hour.
In this game each card describes where the hands on a clock are pointing. Children match it to the time it shows, such as 4 o'clock or half past 4. Reading the description and picturing the clock is good practice for drawing the hands themselves.
Play O'clock and half past · Free printable
Year 1: Coins and notes
Measurement: “recognise and know the value of different denominations of coins and notes”
Year 1 pupils learn to recognise UK coins and notes and to know what each one is worth. There are eight coins in everyday use (1p, 2p, 5p, 10p, 20p, 50p, £1 and £2) and four Bank of England notes (£5, £10, £20 and £50).
In this game children put four coins and notes in order of value, smallest first. Size is not a good guide: a 5p coin is smaller than a 2p coin but worth more, and a 20p coin is smaller than a 10p coin. Ordering by value helps children look at the number on each coin rather than its size.
Play Coins and notes · Free printable
Year 1: Days of the week and months of the year
Measurement: “recognise and use language relating to dates, including days of the week, weeks, months and years”
Year 1 pupils learn the language of dates: the days of the week, weeks, months and years. They learn that there are 7 days in a week and 12 months in a year, and say them in order.
In this game children put days and months in order, like a timeline. The week starts on Monday, as it does on most UK calendars and diaries, and the year starts in January. The Quick quiz asks which day or month comes next.
Play Days of the week and months of the year · Free printable
Year 2: Pounds and pence
Measurement: “recognise and use symbols for pounds (£) and pence (p); combine amounts to make a particular value”
Year 2 pupils learn to use the symbols £ and p, and to find different combinations of coins that make the same amount. There are many ways to make 20p: two 10p coins, a 10p and two 5p coins, or four 5p coins.
In this game children add up groups of coins and sort each group by the total it makes: 10p, 20p, 50p, £1 or £2. Some groups mix pounds and pence, so children practise the fact that 100p is the same as £1.
Play Pounds and pence · Free printable
Year 2: Choosing units: cm, m, g, kg, ml and litres
Measurement: “choose and use appropriate standard units to estimate and measure length/height in any direction (m/cm); mass (kg/g); temperature (°C); capacity (litres/ml) to the nearest appropriate unit, using rulers, scales, thermometers and measuring vessels”
Year 2 pupils learn to choose and use standard units to measure length, mass, capacity and temperature: centimetres and metres for length, grams and kilograms for mass, millilitres and litres for capacity and degrees Celsius for temperature.
In this game children decide which unit they would use to measure everyday things, such as the length of a pencil, the mass of a bag of potatoes or the water in a bath. Choosing the right unit is the first step before estimating and measuring.
Play Choosing units: cm, m, g, kg, ml and litres · Free printable
Year 2: Telling the time to five minutes
Measurement: “tell and write the time to five minutes, including quarter past/to the hour”
Year 2 pupils learn to tell the time to quarter past and quarter to the hour, and to five minutes. They need to know that the numbers on a clock face are 5 minutes apart for the minute hand.
In this game each card describes where the hands are pointing, and children match it to the time it shows, such as quarter past 7, 20 to 6 or 5 past 9. Picturing the hands helps children draw them correctly too.
Lower Key Stage 2
Year 3: Perimeter
Measurement: “measure the perimeter of simple 2-D shapes”
The perimeter of a shape is the distance all the way around its edge. Year 3 pupils learn to measure the perimeter of simple 2-D shapes by adding up the lengths of the sides.
In this game children find the perimeter of rectangles, squares and triangles. The lengths are given in centimetres, and every answer comes with the working, so children can see how the sides were added.
Play Perimeter · Free printable
Year 3: 12-hour and 24-hour clock
Measurement: “tell and write the time from an analogue clock, including using Roman numerals from I to XII, and 12-hour and 24-hour clocks”
Year 3 pupils learn to read time on 12-hour and 24-hour clocks, and to use a.m. and p.m. and words such as morning, afternoon, noon and midnight. The 24-hour clock is used on bus and train timetables, ovens, phones and computers.
In this game children match 12-hour times to the same time on a 24-hour clock, from 00:05 just after midnight to 23:50 late in the evening. Matching both ways builds the habit of adding or taking away 12 for afternoon and evening times.
Play 12-hour and 24-hour clock · Free printable
Year 3: Days in each month and leap years
Measurement: “know the number of seconds in a minute and the number of days in each month, year and leap year”
Year 3 pupils learn the number of seconds in a minute and the number of days in each month, year and leap year. There are 60 seconds in a minute, 365 days in a year and 366 days in a leap year.
In this game children sort the twelve months into those with 31 days, those with 30 days, and February, which has 28 days, or 29 in a leap year. A leap year comes about every four years: 2024 and 2028 are leap years.
Play Days in each month and leap years · Free printable
Year 4: Area by counting squares
Measurement: “find the area of rectilinear shapes by counting squares”
Year 4 pupils find the area of rectilinear shapes by counting squares.
In this game children find the area of rectangles and L-shapes drawn on squared paper, where each square is 1 cm². Counting in rows, rather than one square at a time, is quicker and more accurate.
Play Area by counting squares · Free printable
Year 4: Converting units of time
Measurement: “solve problems involving converting from hours to minutes; minutes to seconds; years to months; weeks to days”
Year 4 pupils convert between different units of measure, including hours to minutes, minutes to seconds, years to months and weeks to days.
In this game children match times in one unit to the same time in another, such as 3 minutes and 180 seconds. Knowing the key facts, 60, 60, 7 and 12, and multiplying or dividing by them, is the whole skill.
Upper Key Stage 2
Year 5: Converting metric units
Measurement: “convert between different units of metric measure (for example, kilometre and metre; centimetre and metre; centimetre and millimetre; gram and kilogram; litre and millilitre)”
Year 5 pupils learn to convert between metric units: kilometres and metres, metres and centimetres, centimetres and millimetres, kilograms and grams, and litres and millilitres. Metric units are based on 10, 100 and 1,000, so converting means multiplying or dividing by one of these.
In this game children match measurements to the same amount in another unit, such as 2.5 km to 2,500 m or 0.25 kg to 250 g. The measurements include decimals, so children also practise multiplying and dividing decimals by 10, 100 and 1,000.
Play Converting metric units · Free printable
Year 5: Area of rectangles
Measurement: “calculate and compare the area of rectangles (including squares), including using standard units, square centimetres (cm²) and square metres (m²)”
Area is the amount of flat space a shape covers, measured in square units such as square centimetres (cm²). Year 5 pupils calculate the area of rectangles, including squares, by multiplying length by width, and compare the area and perimeter of composite shapes.
In this game children work out the area of rectangles and sort them into groups with the same area. A 12 cm by 1 cm strip and a 4 cm by 3 cm rectangle look very different but both cover 12 cm², so the game shows that shapes with the same area can have very different perimeters.
Play Area of rectangles · Free printable
Year 6: Area of triangles and parallelograms
Measurement: “calculate the area of parallelograms and triangles”
Year 6 pupils learn when it is possible to use formulae for area, and calculate the area of parallelograms and triangles. A parallelogram can be cut and rearranged into a rectangle, and a triangle is half of a parallelogram.
In this game children work out the area of four shapes and put them in order from smallest to largest. Each round mixes triangles and parallelograms, so children need to remember which formula halves and which does not.
Play Area of triangles and parallelograms · Free printable
Year 6: Volume of cubes and cuboids
Measurement: “calculate, estimate and compare volume of cubes and cuboids using standard units”
Volume is the amount of space a 3-D shape takes up, measured in cubic units such as cubic centimetres (cm³). Year 6 pupils calculate the volume of cubes and cuboids using the formula length × width × height.
In this game children find the volume of cuboids and cubes from their measurements. Each answer comes with the working, so children can check how the three lengths were multiplied.