Ready for a math activity that’s truly a *SNAP*? 🐊 This activity will strengthen your child’s understanding of greater than/less than using the Nile crocodile! Keep scrolling for instructions on how to make your crocodile and set up the activity, and then check out our list of ways to play.
What you need:
- 2 popsicle sticks
- green paint
- googly eyes
- white cardstock
- glue
- our Feed the Crocodile printable
- laminator + laminating sheets (optional, but recommended for repeating lesson)
- dry erase markers (optional, but great for using with laminated sheet)
- beads, pom poms, or some other counting manipulative
- 2 dice (optional for upgrade)
How to set up:
First, let’s make our crocodile. Start by painting each popsicle stick green.
While it’s drying, cut out two lines of teeth from the white cardstock.
Once the paint is dry, glue on the teeth and add two googly eyes to one stick. It should look like this:
Print the Feed the Crocodile PDF (and laminate it if possible), and then get ready to play!
How to play:
Depending on your child’s abilities, you can play Feed the Crocodile a variety of ways. Below, we have listed a few options. Remember to meet your child where they are! Start by telling them that their crocodile is very hungry! He only wants to eat the biggest number he can find to fill his tummy, but you need to help him find the bigger number. Once they have identified it, have them turn the popsicle sticks to make the crocodile’s mouth face the bigger number. Then you can state, “That’s right! X is greater than X” or “You’re right—X is less than X.”
- If your child is still working on number recognition, put a certain number of beads or pom poms in each side of the square (1-20). Let your child count the manipulatives to find the bigger number.
- Using a dry erase marker, write a number (1-20) in each box. Let your child arrange the crocodile’s mouth to “eat” the bigger number.
- Ready for a challenge? Using the dice, roll to get two numbers and have your child add them together. Write the sum in the first box. Repeat to get a number for the second box. Then have your child identify which number is greater than with the crocodile.
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