What size feet do preps have?

We have been conducting an investigation into foot size and measurement.  We started with the question "What size feet do Preps have?" and have been unpacking it over the last couple of sessions.

Our initial estimates ranged from "the same size as our shoe", "sort of the same" to "no, because we’re born on different days" and "when grown ups were little they had the same size feet as us but now they have big feet".  

We started off by looking for anything on our shoes that could tell us how big they are.

This turned out to be a little confusing, as the sizes vary enormously, and many shoes have 2 or 3 sizes listed in them.  We then set out to figure out a way to measure our feet reliably and consistently.

First, we found our foot buddy - someone who has about the same size foot as us.

This worked well, but only when we could directly compare feet, so the children experimented with a range of materials to come up with ways to get a more precise measurement. These included:

Measuring the outside foot length with measuring tapes

Measuring the outside length and toes with chains - starting at the heel each time.

Measuring the width of our toes...

...and toes of both feet together

measuring the ankles

tracing the outline

The children have started to evaluate their methods, and some of the problems they encountered:

"I did it on my toes to measure because I couldn’t get it right on the side of my foot." 

"We put our feet out like this, without our shoes on, and put our feet together, and he measured it but I don’t know how long our feet are because he didn’t say the number.

This week we will be refining, testing and evaluating our methods.  We will keep you posted.

Tracing showing the difference between foot and shoe size.