Children’s Books About Capacity

Teaching Kids about capacity is great fun and messy! But before it gets too messy why not try these Children’s Books About Capacity To get your kids hooked!

Using children’s books for teaching capacity and volume is a perfect way to get kids interacting and engaged with learning measurement skills. Using picture books in the classroom is a great way to introduce a concept in a fun and engaging way, without too much hard work! It’s also an excellent way to integrate literacy into the curriculum too!

Here’s our list of Children’s Books About Capacity to add to your children’s books for your classroom list! We’ve also included books about volume too.

If you’re teaching other measurement concepts you should take a look at these 20 Children’s Books for teaching Measurement while you’re here!

So what is capacity all about? Well to be honest it can be confusing because most people use the words capacity & volume interchangeably when talking about these two topics. Now this is ok in social contexts but it’s important that we talk about this with our students and alert them to the fact capacity and volume are not quite the same thing!

And as kids get older they really need to know the difference to stop mathematical misconceptions developing.

Difference Between Capacity and Volume

So what’s the difference between capacity and volume. Well, it’s quite subtle really…

Capacity is about the space inside a container, its capacity, how much it can hold, usually a liquid.

Volume is about how much the container itself takes up.

Did you notice the difference? It may take a few reads for it to sink in, you can see why there’s a lot of confusion around this topic, right? After a lot of research and many websites that get it WRONG, here’s a simple explanation & PDF download for your reference.

With such a subtle difference between the concept of capacity and volume, it can be tricky to teach and get this across to the cherubs. So what better way to kick off the concept of capacity than with a children’s picture book.

Children’s Books About Capacity

Now just so you know there aren’t that many children’s books about measurement that are solely written about the concept of capacity.

There’s tons of children’s books about measuring length and weight, but very few about capacity. After searching long and hard we did find some measurement picture books just about capacity for you. And to make things really easy for you we have linked each book to our Amazon Store. If you purchase the book using our link we receive a small commission, at no extra cost to you. You see the disclosure policy here.

If you want MORE children’s books about teaching measurement concepts try this Related Post 20 Kids Books For Teaching Measurement

Teaching Measurement Resources Are Available For VIP Members. Click the images to find out more!

Children’s Books About Capacity

Here’s our list of children’s books about capacity happy measuring!

Mr Archimedes Bath by Pamela Allen is another measurement book to add to your children’s picture book library. It’s a great read-aloud to for any time of the day. In this children’s story, Mr Archimedes takes a bath with three of his friends, Kangaroo, Wombat and Goat, and the water overflows and makes a mess.

Mr Archimedes is determined to find out who causes the water to overflow! Using a measure and taking turns getting out, they finally discover who it is! Early math and science made fascinating with the use of animal characters, comical text and colourful illustrations.

Click The Images To Browse Our Teaching Resources…

Room For Ripley – This is a gorgeous story with a real-life application for measuring capacity. It does use Imperial measures or the United States customary units rather than metric, but if you need metric you can just substitute a few words here and there!

In this picture book about measurement, Carlos pours cups, pints and quarts of water into his fishbowl, getting ready for his new pet, Ripley. But just how much water does it take to make room for Ripley!

Pastry School in Paris – is a children’s book that involves a lot of measuring! The Zills family is off to Paris to see the sights and take a class at the International Pastry Academy! Matt and Bibi have to measure liquids to make lollipops. It’s hard work, but knowing about different liquid measurements comes in handy. In the story Matt and Bibi use their measuring skills to save the day.

This book is realły great for making unit conversions practical for children. You could follow up with some classroom cooking just to be hands-on!

Browse our hands-on Teacher Printables…

A Beach For Albert -When the People go away to the beach, Albert decides to make a beach of his own in the backyard sandbox. The only problem is―how to fill up his “beach” with water! A wonderful children’s story about capacity and volume. This book is a fun way to spark students’ curiosity about how the size and shapes of different containers change how much they can hold.

As the story progresses Albert and his sister learn that they need bigger containers if they want to make a swimming pool, but bigger containers are heavy to carry! Such a clever story that helps build understanding about measuring capacity and volume with so many lesson plan ideas too!

How Much Does it Hold?– This book about measurement helps children see measurement in real life. Using everything from gardens and food to coins and toys, this series introduces students to math that is fun and inviting with simple text and full-colour photographs that help make the subjects easier to grasp!

Fun Teacher Resources For Teaching Measurement…

Math Counts: Capacity – In this children’s book about measurement kids will learn what the difference is between Capacity & Volume in a very easy to understand way. This measurement book for kids explains if capacity and volume are the same things or not. This book has great real-life visuals to help your kids see capacity in real life.

It is great for explaining that the space inside a container is its capacity. Perfect children’s book about capacity and a great way to introduce the topic of capacity.

How To Measure Everything – This Kids measurement Book is packed with math puzzles and quizzes, this bold and bright book tackles the basic concepts of measuring, from measuring length to telling the time. It helps kids understand the language and math of measuring while having lots of math fun! This book helps children to relate measuring to everyday life and combines fun comparisons and measurement quizzes with clear, easy-to-read text.

Topics include length, weight, volume, temperature, and time. Fun animal size comparison charts are included, and the colourful scene at the end comes complete with a fun quiz. How to Measure Everything engages kids with a key math topic in a new, interactive, and playful way.