A rainy day in the house, with Kay starting to get restless (after having been up since 5 o'clock, at least an hour earlier than usual). I got her busy with something and then quickly put together a homemade scale. I used a hanger, ribbon (string would work just as well), and 2 paper cups.
She was curious as to what I was doing (so much for keeping her busy with something else) so I showed her how she could compare the weight of 2 objects by putting them in the cups. The one that hung lower was heavier. I had a few small things for her to measure (box of crayons, matchbox car, paintbrush, etc), thinking she would then go find things of her own. But, nah. She put in the first 2 things, seemed to be interested in how in worked, then ripped open the box of crayons and tried putting in one at a time until they matched the weight of the paintbrush. I thought this was a good idea on her part and when she got the weights even, suggested we count the crayons, to see how many crayons equaled the weight of one paintbrush (it was 7, in case you were wondering). I tried to encourage her to heft both items first to see which she thought would be heavier, but she was too impatient to get them into the cups to be delayed by that! When she was finished, I was satisfied when she asked if we could leave the hanger scale on the door for the rest of the day, in case she found something she wanted to weigh.