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By Sharon Parnell — early years practitioner and freelance writer

Cats, dogs and rabbits are all children’s favourites. Use them to inspire speaking and listening, and mathematical language

1 Big cats, little cats

Sort pictures of cats by size

EYFS Area of learning > Mathematics > Numerical Patterns

What you need

Group size: small groups.

‘Big cats, little cats’ activity sheet; labels showing words such as ‘bigger than’, ‘smaller than’, ‘big’, ‘little’ and ‘longer’.

What to do

Look at the pictures of the different-size cats on the ‘Big cats, little cats’ activity sheet with the children. Cut out the pictures and invite each child to put the pictures in the correct order of size.

When the children have sorted the pictures, show them the labels starting with ‘bigger than’ and working down to ‘smaller than’. Check that they understand what each word means as you read them.