Learn About Measurements With Water Play

While on an important mission, Odd Squad agents Opal, Orla, Omar, and Oswald run into a major problem. Their Mobile Unit van is low on fuel, and they have to land. After landing, the agents find out the van runs on water. The Squad thinks water will be easy enough to find until they realize they've landed in a desert! They have to find water, but how much? They ask the van’s computer. It tells them the van needs one gallon of water to get to their destination — London, England.

Agent Orla and Agent Opal head out to find water. On their journey, they find different sources of water. At their last stop, their last quart container falls into a well. Luckily, they are wearing quart-sized rubber rain hats! They lower one of the hats into the well to collect the last quart of water.

Together with your child, explore how a gallon of water can be measured using different sized containers. Then, count how many of each different sized container of water can fit into the one-gallon jug.

Directions

Place a funnel into your empty gallon-sized container. Once it’s in place, fill the cup-sized container with water and pour it into the gallon container. Keep filling the gallon-sized container with cups of water until it’s completely full. As your child is pouring, ask them how many cups they think it will take to get to one gallon. Help your child count the cups as you write down how many cups it takes to fill your gallon container.

Once your child has figured out how many cups are in one gallon, empty the gallon container into a large mixing bowl. The water can be reused for the rest of the activity. Once the gallon container is empty, help your child place the funnel in the pint-sized container and fill it with the water. Ask your child how many pints they think it will take to fill a gallon. Then, pour the water from the pint container into the gallon container, and keep filling until the gallon is full again. Write down how many pints it takes to fill the gallon.

Once your child has figured out how many pints are in one gallon, empty the gallon container into a large mixing bowl. Once the gallon container is empty, place your funnel in the quart-sized container and fill it with the water. Ask your child how many quarts they think it will take to fill a gallon. Then, pour the water from the quart container into the gallon container, and keep filling until the gallon is full again. Write down how many quarts it takes to fill the gallon.

Now that your child has seen how many cups, pints, and quarts it takes to fill a gallon, review your notes together and see if your child can answer the following questions:

What size container do you think fills the gallon jug the quickest?
Which size container do you think takes the most time?

Your child can also try filling a gallon container or a quart, pint, or cup with a teaspoon or tablespoon and record their findings. When you’re done with this activity, save your water by using it to water plants, either inside your house or in your garden or yard.

Explore Further

To continue exploring measurements with your child, have fun with a scavenger hunt the next time you’re at the grocery store! Ask your child to find different containers of liquids and look for their measurements on the labels to discover how much liquid each container holds. You can take it one step further by showing your child a container and asking them to guess how much liquid it holds based on the containers they used in this activity.

Want more “Odd Squad” activities? Check out the How to Make Slime and Create Your Own Blob activities to continue the fun!