Search Comparing Weight Educational Resources

What exactly is light as a feather? How about heavy as a horse? These Education.com resources help lower elementary students understand what is heavier or lighter than with simple, visual worksheets featuring a variety of everyday objects. Games and a catchy sing-along keep little learners engaged with measurement.

Once students are introduced to the concept of measurements like length and weight, they may begin to wonder how different objects relate to each other in terms of weight. Teaching your students about what is heavier or lighter is an opportunity to not only introduce the earliest concepts of comparison but also an opportunity it begin to introduce the concept of estimation.

The weight of an object is the amount of force gravity exerts on the object. Too begin with, early learners do not need to use any specific unit of measure. They must simply understand that two items have different weights and determine which of them is lighter or heavier.

A simple exercise is to create columns labeled lighter and heavier. In one of the columns, write an object. Then have the students name and object that is the opposite. If you put an object in the lighter column, they must name something heavier and vice versa. This forces the children to estimate the weight of objects in relation to the other object.

Lighter	Heavier
Paper Clip	Bowling Ball
Car	Tank

This is also an opportunity to introduce the concept of relativism in its simplest form. Putting what would normally be considered a heavy object in the lighter column forces the children to realize that it is only heavy when compared to things that are lighter. When compared with even heavier things, it is lighter.

Using the resources provided by Education.com will give you the opportunity to go over the concepts of heavier and lighter using a variety of materials and exercises that may keep students interested.