Balance Scales in Grams: Read the Mass

Six balance scales share this Grade 2 page, and a little vehicle sits on one pan of each — a truck, a bus, a tractor — with gram weights stacked on the other pan until the two sides level out. The child adds up the weights and writes the vehicle's mass in grams underneath. No jugs here and no milliliters: six balances and a single unit for the whole page.

A pan balance teaches something a bathroom scale never can. It does not display a number; it makes a statement — these two sides are equal — and the child has to add the known weights in order to discover the unknown one. That is an equation in physical form, and it is the same idea that later turns into the missing number in 40 + ☐ = 65. It also makes mass concrete in a way that pictures of dials do not: 500 grams becomes a thing you would feel in your hand rather than a label to copy out.

Print it free as a PDF and, if there is a balance in the school cupboard, weigh something real afterwards — nothing beats the actual object. Measuring jugs in milliliters is the capacity twin, the mixed page with fine 50 ml marks sharpens the reading further, and column addition keeps the adding of weights quick.