Get your students rolling, squishing and stretching their way into measurement with this hands-on Play Dough Snake: Measuring Length activity. Designed to bring fun and creativity to your maths block, this resource helps students practise informal measurement skills while creating playful snakes out of dough.

Using simple materials and plenty of imagination, students will form a play dough snake and then measure its length using a chosen informal unit such as cubes, paper clips or paddle pop sticks. This activity invites children to explore measurement concepts while building fine motor skills, engaging multiple senses and developing estimation strategies.

By allowing students to create and measure their own unique snakes, this activity fosters ownership and pride in learning. Students will compare lengths with classmates, consider what affects the length of a snake, and refine their measuring skills with each attempt. It's flexible enough for independent work, partner tasks, or a fun whole-class exploration of non-standard units of length.

Key Learning Outcomes

• ✅ Develop understanding of length through hands-on experience
• ✅ Use informal units to measure objects
• ✅ Compare and describe lengths using everyday language
• ✅ Strengthen fine motor skills through manipulation of materials

What’s Included

• 1 x instruction card for students (optional printable)
• 1 x recording sheet for measuring snake length with informal units
• 1 x comparison prompt page: “Whose snake is longer?”

Materials Needed

• Play dough (class-made or store-bought)
• Informal measurement tools such as:
  • - Unifix cubes
  • - Paper clips
  • - Paddle pop sticks
  • - Blocks or counting bears
• Printed worksheets or whiteboards for recording lengths
• Optional: rulers or measuring tapes for extension tasks

How to Use

1. Provide each student or group with a ball of play dough.
2. Ask students to roll their dough into a long snake shape. Encourage creativity in length, shape and decoration.
3. Each student selects a measurement tool and uses it to measure the full length of their snake.
4. Students record their measurement on the worksheet or whiteboard.
5. Invite students to compare their snakes with classmates and order them from shortest to longest.
6. Use discussion questions to deepen understanding: “How could we make the snake longer?” or “What if we used a different unit to measure?”

Ideas for Classroom Use

• 💡 Use during a unit on length or measurement with informal units
• 💡 Integrate into a play-based or exploration station in your Maths rotations
• 💡 Include in a fine motor skill session that also targets maths outcomes
• 💡 Extend learning by introducing rulers and comparing standard vs informal units

Top Teacher Tips

• 💛 Use laminated desk mats to define each student’s workspace
• 💛 Store measurement tools in labelled tubs for smooth setup and pack away
• 💛 Pre-make a few sample snakes of various lengths to spark discussion and predictions
• 💛 Encourage students to reshape and re-measure their snakes to improve accuracy and explore flexibility in measurement

This open-ended activity brings measurement to life with play, creativity and discovery. Whether used as part of a maths rotation or a fun afternoon task, your students will be excited to measure their play dough creations and learn through hands-on exploration!