How To Measure Kids' Feet Easily At Home

Olivia Thristan
Dec 12, 2023 By Olivia Thristan
Originally Published on Sep 24, 2020
Newborn baby feet with red heart
Age: 0-99
Read time: 3.4 Min

It's that time of year when we are all buying our kids a new pair of school shoes for the year ahead.

This means it's also time to get their feet measured too. With kids constantly growing, regularly visiting a shoe shop and getting them professionally fitted can be time-consuming and sometimes a stressful task.

Measuring your kid's feet at home can be an ideal solution! You can do this regularly to make sure your child is wearing the correct shoe size, protecting their growing feet. Measuring a child's foot is a lot easier than you may think. Whether you're looking to use a child's foot measure or a simple shoe size chart, we have plenty of tips to help you measure your child's feet at home.

Measure In Centimetres

Ask your child to stand up straight and place a ruler next to their feet, then take the measurement in centimetres. This method works well as it tells you the actual length measurement of your child's feet.

Small baby feet in parents hand

Draw Around Their Foot

Not only is this a great way to measure feet, but it's also great fun for kids. You could also offer them the outline that you draw as something to colour after you've finished measuring, which is perfect for a memory book or to stick on the fridge. For this method, you will need your child to stand up straight whilst you trace around their foot. Be sure to keep the pencil upright whilst drawing around the foot and, once you've done this, use a ruler to measure the distance between their heel and big toe. Using a conversion tool and the measurement taken, you will then be able to work out your child's correct shoe size.

If you're struggling to get your child to stand still to measure their feet, why not turn into it a fun activity and get them to do some foot painting instead. Although this isn't as accurate as other methods, it gives you a rough indication of the size and as a happy compromise.

Use A Gauge

You can purchase a gauge online. This is a simple device which your child puts their foot into. You then pull the bar in the gauge up to where your child's foot ends and read the measurement on the tape measure in the device. Once you have this number, you can put it into a generator to get the correct shoe size.

Top Tip: Most gauges are in millimetres, so be sure to divide it by ten if you're looking for the measurement in centimetres.

How To Measure Baby Feet?

This process is similar to measuring your children's shoe size. Instead of drawing around the foot, you can make it a bit easier by placing your baby's foot on a piece of paper and putting a mark next to your their heel and their big toe. Be sure to take note of the length of their foot to the nearest millimetre as, for such tiny feet, this needs to be as accurate as possible.

Tips And Tricks

If your child is going to wear socks with their shoes, be sure to take this into account when measuring their feet as the feet will expand once in socks, which may make the shoes too tight. Perhaps even take a second measurement whilst they are wearing socks to compare.

Are you unsure about the measurement you have taken? Simply redo the measurement a couple of times and compare, by doing this you can then go with an average if the numbers vary.

Remember to measure both of your children's feet as they usually have one foot that is bigger than the other.

If your children are between shoe sizes be sure to size up rather than down. Many shoe shops also offer half sizes, which can be a better fit for children who are in between sizes.

If you want to buy a particular brand of children's shoes, it is worth looking on their website for resources as they may provide a printable kids' shoe size chart or specific instructions on how to measure feet for their shoes.

We Want Your Photos!
We Want Your Photos!

We Want Your Photos!

Do you have a photo you are happy to share that would improve this article?
Email your photos

More for You

See All

Written by Olivia Thristan

Bachelor of Science specializing in Cinematography and Film/Video Production

Olivia Thristan picture

Olivia ThristanBachelor of Science specializing in Cinematography and Film/Video Production

With a degree in Film and Television Production from Staffordshire University, Olivia is a writer who is passionate about photography and loves to watch documentaries. When she's not working on her writing, Olivia can usually be found experimenting with baking, collecting Lego figures, getting creative with polymer clay, and searching for the best pizza joints in the West Midlands and beyond.

Read full bio >