Learning about Big and Little

There are many experiences in daily life that you can use to help children learn the words and idea of size. For example, when you’re doing the laundry, ask your child whose clothes are bigger—hers or yours?

Get her help in putting all the big towels in one pile, and the small ones in another, or in separating all the baby’s small clothes from her larger ones.

When you’re shopping, ask her to hand you the larger of two boxes or the smaller of two cans of a certain brand.

When you unpack and put away the groceries, let her see if she can estimate if an item is too big, too small, or just right for a shelf before putting it away.

When putting her toys away on a shelf, have her trying lining them up from the smallest to the largest or put all the small ones on one shelf and the big ones on another in order of their size.

By your use of them, introduce her to the words and ideas of long and short, thick and thin, heavy and light, and so on, as more specific ways of looking at big and little, large and small.