Dive into Heavy vs Light Mass With this Interactive Activity

This engaging set of slides has students exploring the mass of different objects found by divers in the deep dark ocean! Students will be guided on a journey through a number of different interactive activities as they show their knowledge of heavy and light.

Here’s the message they’ll see as they begin:

“Hi there, scuba friends! We went for a dive and found a MESS at the bottom of the ocean! We need your help cleaning up the trash.”

Students then go on a journey to help tidy up the trash completing the following tasks:

• Choosing between two objects and placing them correctly on balance scales based on their estimate of the heaviest and lightest object.
• Drag and drop ‘heavy’ or ‘light’ under the correct object when provided with two images.
• Drag and drop the correct picture to complete the following sentence – ‘The ____ is lighter than the ___.

Comparing and Contrasting the Mass of Objects

Being able to compare and contrast everyday objects based on their mass is a key skill in math. Here are some ways to ensure your students really understand this concept:

• Contrasting mass activities such as this one where students need to describe objects as being lighter or heavier and providing an explanation for their answers.
• Ensuring students understand the definition of mass and that it’s the measurement of how much matter an object contains.
• Allowing students to use balance scales to compare the mass of objects or using informal units of measurement to measure the weight of different objects.
• Provide practical everyday situations such as comparing the mass of groceries when shopping.
• Making sure the classroom activities are using real-life objects for hands-on learning.

Download and Explore this Activity Today!

This resource is available to download as Google Slides. The first download is the actual digital activity and the second download is the answers version. 

This resource was created by Brittany Collins, a teacher in Indiana and a Teach Starter collaborator.

More Printable Mass Resources for the Classroom

Looking for more resources to use in the classroom? We have you covered…

teaching resource

Informal Mass Scavenger Hunt Worksheets

Practice using balance scales to determine the weight of objects using informal units with these fun scavenger hunt worksheets.

teaching resource

Measuring Informal Mass Worksheet

Practice measuring items using informal units of measurement with this measuring mass worksheet.

teaching resource

Informal Mass Choose and Use Cut and Sort

Learn the concept of informal units of measurement for mass with this choose and use worksheet.