Printable Full and Empty Worksheets
These full and empty worksheets give kindergarten children practice comparing how much a glass, jar or bowl holds. Every row shows the same container at different levels, so the only thing to compare is how high the liquid comes. Each printable sheet has an answer key.
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About Full and Empty
What this skill is
Full means filled to the top and empty means nothing inside. Most containers a child sees are somewhere in between. Looking at two of the same container and saying which has more, or which has less, is one of the first measurement ideas in kindergarten, and it comes well before numbers or measuring cups.
When children learn it
Comparing which of two things has more or less of something is a kindergarten measurement skill, aligned to Common Core standard K.MD.A.2. Most children already say full and empty at home. These sheets turn the words into careful looking.
Teaching Tips
- Pour water into two matching cups at the sink and ask which has more, then which has less. Ask the less question just as often as the more question.
- Use the words full, empty, half full and almost empty while you pour drinks, and ask your child to hand you the almost empty cup.
Common Mistakes
- Calling a nearly full glass full. On the harder sheets one glass is filled to the brim and another stops a little short, and children often check the first one they see.
- Comparing the containers instead of the liquid. Put a big jar next to a small glass and many children say the jar has more, even when it holds less. That is why every row here uses the same container.
- Answering more when the row says less. Children hear and use the word more much more often, so they check the fullest container even when the row asks for LESS or LEAST.