Understanding ‘long’ and ‘short’

Why is this important?
Concepts such as ‘long’/‘short’ and ‘big’/‘little’ are used to describe what something looks like and how things are different from each other (e.g. a pencil could be ‘long’/‘short’/‘fat’/‘thin’/‘big’/‘little’).

What to do

• Gather together pairs of things that can be described as ‘long’ and ‘short’ (e.g. pencils, dolls with ‘long’ and ‘short’ hair, rulers, trousers, scarves, snakes).
• Put out one of the pairs (e.g. the ‘long’ and the ‘short’ pencil).
• Ask the child to find the ‘long’ pencil, etc.
• The child could post the object in a box or put it in a bag.