Last week we were learning all about weight. In the infant classes we don't learn about grams and kilos we discuss weight in non-standard units so when the children asked me how much do I weigh I told them 20,000 teddy bears!!!
Initially we discussed two items and which ones were heavier like a car and a pillow or an elephant and a pencil. When the children understood this the weighing scales was introduced.
Day 1:
v What objects weigh
less than a water bottle?
v What objects weigh
more than a water bottle?
The children also cut and pasted items into their copy, things that were heavy and things that were light.
Day 2:
v
How does an objects size impact on its weight?
v
Does bigger always mean heavier?
Day 3:
v
Which objects in your basket weigh the most?
v
What item is the heaviest overall?
The children all got to use a balance scales to measure which items were the heaviest. I did not explain how to use the scales I just let the children explore the scales themselves. The children are given a worksheet and they circled the item that was the heaviest.
This method of problem solving was fantastic and to give the children an extra bit of a challenge I asked the children to work out which item was the heaviest overall.

Day 4:
v What
items weigh the same as a rubber?
Day 4 is more practise with the weighing scales. each group was given a rubber and they have to see what combinations of items they can get to balance the rubber. They then had to make a note of the items that caused it to balance.

Day 5:
v How
many bears will it take to balance the item?
This really challenged the children as it worked a lot on their problem solving skills. Instead of comparing which one was heavier or lighter they had to make the two sides balance. They were using non-standard units so it had to be as close as possible because sometimes it was too much and some times it just wasn't enough.
Overall we did a lot of work with weighing and weight :)