SMMARTideas

SMMART MATH:

"BIGGER THAN/ SMALLER THAN" SORTING

“Bigger (Greater) Than”/ “Less Than” are the vocabulary words to introduce to your child through these sorting activities. Be sure to use a mid-size object in these activities as a reference to decipher between objects that are “bigger than” or “less than” the reference object.

-Lay out a few toys of different sizes in front of your child. Use a medium size toy as reference or you can even use the palm of your child’s hand as a size reference. Help your child sort them into two piles. As you sort a pile of large objects, state that: “This object is bigger than your hand, so it will go into the big pile” or “This object is smaller than your hand, so it will go into the small pile”.

-You can sort flashcards. Sort the numbers that are greater than your child’s age and less than his age.

-You can sort buttons by size. Use one mid-size button as a standard to sort “bigger than” and “smaller than” buttons.

-Sort snacks. Give your child a variety of snacks (toasted oat cereal pieces, crackers, raisins). Let your child sort the bigger snacks from the smaller snacks. You can use a mid-size snack as the standard. Anything “bigger than” the midsize snack goes in one pile and any snack “smaller than” goes into another pile.

-Encourage your child to sort your family’s socks as you do the laundry together. Sort the big socks from the small socks. Help your child to articulate who has bigger socks. “Your socks are smaller than my socks!”…and… “My socks are bigger than your socks!”

-Sort your family’s shoes. Place several pairs of shoes into a large pile and sort the shoes by size. You can use your child’s foot as a size reference.

Lisa