Sizing Up Species (Age 7 to 11)

Produced by ARKive, this series of activities is designed to teach children about measurement and the different sizes of animal and plant species. Children compare their estimates of a species’ length to its actual dimensions and compare it to their own heights. In the first session, children work individually or in pairs to research the length of a plant or animal species. By creating a measurement box, they then test other children's knowledge of the species size by asking them to estimate its length. The actual length is then revealed and compared to the estimates. Children are encouraged to record the results to see how accurate their estimates were. In the second activity, children research the height of different plant and animal species. This measurement is marked on a paper alongside the heights of other species to compare the sizes of different species. Children then compare their heights to the animals they have measured to discover which species they are the closest to in size and to get an idea of scale.

Please note that the ARKive.org website is no longer available, where links are listed for additional information within the resource files.