Bigger or Smaller

How to play

1. Read the instruction: it asks for the bigger or the smaller.
2. Compare the two.
3. Tap your choice. Watch out: the instruction changes.

Choose Relaxed for ten questions with no clock, or Race to answer as many as you can in sixty seconds. After a wrong answer the game shows the right one and the reason. At the end it lists the questions you missed and keeps your best score for each level on this device.

Levels

• Level 1: Numbers up to 99
• Level 2: Numbers up to 9,999
• Level 3: Small sums
• Level 4: Fractions
• Level 5: Decimals and negative numbers

Start at the level where about eight answers in ten are right, and move up when it feels easy.

What this game practises

Comparing numbers is place value in action: 402 is more than 398 because of the hundreds digit, whatever the other digits say. The later levels move to ideas that fool many adults. Is 3/8 bigger than 1/3? Is −7 bigger than −9? Is 0.5 bigger than 0.45? Meeting these again and again, with instant feedback, builds a feel for number size that a rule alone does not give.

Tips for parents and teachers

• For fractions, ask the child to picture two rotis cut differently. Which piece is larger?
• For negative numbers, use a lift going to basement floors: floor −2 is higher than floor −5.
• For decimals, write both with the same number of places: 0.50 and 0.45.

Play it without a screen

Each player turns over two cards from a pack to make a two-digit number. The bigger number wins both pairs. For older children, make fractions with the two cards.

More games for classes 1 and 2

• Count the DotsDots appear in no fixed order. Count them and tap the right number.Nursery to Class 1
• Make TenTwelve number tiles. Tap two that add up to the target. Clear the whole board.Classes 1 to 3
• Clock TimeA clock face shows a time. Choose the time it shows.Classes 1 to 4
• Coin CountCoins and notes are laid out. Add them up and choose the total.Classes 1 to 4

All games Games for classes 1 and 2