Making a Mr Men Measuring Maths Tool Box

I am busy making a comprehensive set of go-to boxes to use for different mathematical or phonical school sessions for my littlest two.  This box is another maths tool box, this time all about measuring length, using standard and non standard methods.  These boxes are well worth the effort as they seem to have a universal appeal for my younger ones, especially A5 who asks for one of her ‘tool boxes’ every day.  This box has been my favourite to create so far and I have a feeling the girls will feel the same way!

I decorated the outside of an ice-cream tub with foam so it would be easy for me to tell at a glance what the box contains.  I intend to end up with lots of these boxes and need to just be able to pick up and go.  Here they are so far all stacked up and you can see how easy it is to see straight away which is numbers, phonics or measurement:

The brightly coloured foam has another important role to play – it seems the pictures are very luring to a certain 5-year-old who begs to play with them each day!

In this tool box I collected as many standard and non standard forms of measurement I could think of that would fit in the box:

The standard forms include:

• Tape measure decorated with a Little Miss Naughty (because I just can’t help myself!)
• Dress makers tape
• Home made Mr Man ruler, with cm marked on it

The non standard forms include:

• A tape measure made of mini Mr Men figures from the back of the books.  These happen to be placed equidistant apart from each other, regardless of size, so make a perfect measuring tool
• Legos
• Montessori rods

On the inside of the lid I glued a Lego board to use to measure the Mr Men figures I had cut out:

I plan on cutting out each Mr Man and Little Miss figure we cover in our lessons.  These will be used in the following ways:

• To measure width:

• Measuring Height

Height can be measured using any of the ways above or:

• And  for estimating area

I will also be making up a small ball of string (need to buy some) which the children will use to estimate perimeter.  As always, everything fit neatly into the ice cream box and is always ready when I need it. :

We’re in the middle of Little Miss Naughty at the moment and A5 is love, love, loving this box!