Metric Conversion Ladder Free Printable

Converting from centimeters to decameters to kilometers and back again can be a challenge for some children.

Sometimes a visual aid can be a useful tool for helping them keep all of those meters (and grams and liters) straight.

A metric conversion ladder is one such visual aid that your child can use while practicing the metric system. It shows the prefixes and their number values. It also indicates which operation to perform or which direction to move the decimal point when doing conversions.

Below you’ll find a free printable of a metric conversion ladder as well as some tips for using it and teaching your child metric conversion. Hopefully they will help you in homeschooling your child.

Using the Metric Conversion Ladder

Before I share the free printable, let me share two ways this page can be used.

1. It can be used right-side-up so that your child can see the values go from lowest (on the bottom) to highest (on top).
2. It can be turned on its side so that the title is on the left. Then it will look more like a number line and the arrows will indicate which direction to move the decimal point.

Here are more tips to help you teach your child the metric conversion process.

When using the metric conversion ladder, first have your child put his finger or a counter on the rung of the beginning value (i.e. 5 hectometers would be on the hecto- rung). Then have him move his finger/counter to the rung of the new value, counting the number of steps he takes up or down (or left or right on) the ladder. (i.e. 5 hectometers to decimeters would be 3 rungs). Tell him that is how many places he needs to move the decimal point. The direction in which he moves is indicated on the sheet. (i.e. hectometers to decimeters would be 3 steps down or to the right so 5 hectometers would equal 5000 decimeters).

A mnemonic trick for remembering the order of the metric values is:

“King Henry Doesn’t Usually Drink Chocolate Milk.”
Kilo – Hecto – Deca – (Unit) – Deci – Centi – Milli.

Hands-on, real life use of the metric system is the best way for your child to develop “metric sense.” Measuring a book in centimeters and a car in meters helps him to really see and remember that a centimeter is smaller than a meter.

Now here is the link to the Metric Conversion Ladder free printable.

Many blessings,