Biggest to Smallest with Dinosaurs (and Footprints too)

Ordering items based on their size can be a tricky skill for a little one. Before children can do this, they need to understand the concept of “big” and “little”.

A modification of this activity is appropriate for children as young as one-year all the way to five-years! And all you need are a few dinosaurs of various sizes (plastic or paper).

Some suggestions for implementing this activity with your child:

• 1-2 Years:  Use just 2 dinosaurs–a large one and a small one. Show your child the difference between “big” and “little”. Also, interject synonyms such as “large” and “small”.
• 2-3 Years:  Use 3 dinosaurs. First have your child choose the biggest one and the smallest one. Then have him put the “middle-sized” one in between the two.
• 3+ Years:  Use 4 or more dinosaurs. Have your child first choose the biggest and smallest. Then ask her to put them in order from biggest to smallest and then from smallest to biggest.

After we did this activity with the dinosaurs, we used each member of our family’s footprints to do the same thing. Big Brother even got to help paint Daddy’s foot (doesn’t he look excited?).