How to Teach Greater Than/Less Than With Pretzels

Pretzels are a perfect manipulative to help teach the "greater than/less than" concept. This is part of my "Yummy Math" program. I introduce the kids to the greater than/less than concept during the Dinosaur unit in my class. I have the kids pretend to be a hungry dinosaur and I ask them which they would rather eat, 2 berries or 4 berries. Then I have them draw a dinosaur mouth eating the larger number; this is an extension of that concept. Here is how it's done.

Instructions

1. Give the kids the pretzels that they will need for the activity.

2. 

   Give the kids the pretzel handout; it should be laminated. You can create this simple worksheet using any drawing program such as Appleworks or Microsoft Works or you can just draw it by hand.

3. Have the kids lay down the pretzels with the open side facing the larger number.

4. Make sure they understand what to do when the two numbers are equal. Have the kids lay down the pretzels parallel to each other to make an equal sign.

Tips & Warnings

• You can use licorice sticks instead of pretzels.