Balance Scale 3 - Weight Reasoning

💡Tips for Parents

▸ What to do Look at the two balance scales, reason about the weights, and circle the correct answer. The lower pan is heavier. Combine the clues before choosing the heaviest or lightest item. First question, checked from the printed data: B < A; C < A → A. ▸ Start with an example See if your child can work through the first puzzle with less scale-by-scale narration than before — let them try reading both scales and spotting the repeated toy on their own before you offer any prompts. In puzzle 1, drum appears in both scales, heavier than robot in the first and heavier than teddy bear in the second, so once your child notices drum repeating, they already have the answer without needing a middle toy to connect two different values. If they solve it quickly and correctly on their own, that's a good sign to let the rest of the sheet run with minimal guidance. ▸ If it is difficult If speed causes a slip, slow back down to the two-step method: name the lower side of each scale first, out loud, before looking for the toy that connects them. Rushing this step is usually where reasoning errors creep in, especially when a child tries to answer from memory of the shape of the puzzle rather than actually reading both clues. A quick verbal check-in — "which toy was in both scales, and which side was it heavier or lighter on each time?" — usually catches the mistake before it becomes a wrong answer. ▸ Check before continuing Balance Scale 3 - Weight Reasoning — Check the completed work using this instruction: The lower pan is heavier. Combine the clues before choosing the heaviest or lightest item. Point to one correction and explain the step used. Revisit that part if the explanation and the marks do not agree.

🎯What This Worksheet Builds

The lower pan is heavier. Combine the clues before choosing the heaviest or lightest item.

👉Next Step

Once your child solves these three-toy puzzles quickly and accurately, try Balance Scale 4 for eight puzzles instead of six, which mixes "heaviest" and "lightest" questions throughout so your child has to reread each question rather than assume it repeats the last one. After that, the four-toy Balance Scale Challenge sets introduce a longer chain of reasoning, linking three scales instead of two.