Children learn to compare containers by their capacities. Sometimes children think that a tall skinny glass holds more than a short fat one. Playing with containers and water helps. Children can use water or rice to compare the capacity of containers. They also learn about litres, then about milliliters. You can:

• Talk about the size of the containers such as dishwashing detergent bottles and medicine glasses
• Describe objects in terms of their capacity such as the 375ml bottle of coke, or the 5ml spoon
• Talk about the appropriate containers that you might choose to store ‘leftovers’ in.
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