How Does Getting a sense of meters and centimeters Work?

Getting a sense of meters and centimeters is like learning to measure things using your own body or familiar objects around you.

Imagine you're playing with building blocks. Each block is about the size of a centimeter, small, like the tip of your thumb. If you line up 100 of those blocks in a row, they make a long line that's about 1 meter, the same length as the average step you take when walking.

You can use parts of your body to measure things:

• The distance from your elbow to your wrist is about 20 centimeters.
• A big jump from one foot to the other is roughly 1 meter.

If you have a ruler or a tape measure, you can see that each little line on it is a centimeter, and every 10 of them make up 1 meter. Like counting your fingers, 10 fingers in one hand are like 10 centimeters, and both hands together are about 20 centimeters.

So next time you're playing or walking, remember that measuring is just like using parts of your body or things you know!