Measuring in nature

This activity will encourage learners to think about distances and how they relate to the space around them. They will become more confident exploring outdoors, combining maths and physical activity to learn more about their site.

Learners will lie down head to toe between and around features such trees, planters, or even the playground, introducing the concept of measuring accurately in an outdoor space. This activity can be used alongside our other mapping activities, to help capture information about biodiversity on your school grounds for the National Education Nature Park.

Getting to know your space

Making decisions

< 30 minutes

EYFS

Preparation

What you need

Optional, if recording measurements:

Plain paper
Pencils
Clipboards
Chalk

Location

Outside

Useful guidance

Resources

Measuring in Nature Activity Guide.pdf 710.41 KB

Step by step

Walk around your learning site to explore the space with learners. Ask them to point out any significant features, like big trees, play equipment, etc.
Explain that you will be measuring spaces in your site together. If you can demonstrate, this will help! Ask learners to lie down between two features, or around it. They will need to be lying on their back, head to toe.
Ask at least one learner to stay standing, as they will be counting how many learners there are in the measurement. If you have enough people, you could try to measure around the whole space!
Repeat in different locations around the site so that every learner can have a turn measuring.

Reflection

Invite learners to reflect on this activity by asking:

Do you have big distances/spaces between nature on your site? Do you think there is room for more nature?

Curriculum links

This activity can be used to support curriculum knowledge and skill development in maths, physical development and communication and language, alongside enhancing nature education, with age appropriate adaptations.

What to try next