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PSPKK12347 Comments

Alligator greater than, less than printables

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These alligator great than, less than printables are wonderful for comparing numbers!

(This post contains affiliate links.)

You can do this activity using only two things:

a) the free alligator printables (get them at the end of this post)

b) something to count, like a stack of toys or small math manipulatives (for older kids, you just need a dry erase or chalk board)

Among the three kids (ages 4, 5, and 7) we learned more about:

  • counting
  • comparing
  • estimating
  • number sense
  • place value
  • fractions

These alligator great than, less than printables are wonderful for comparing numbers!

Learning less than, greater than

First, I created some simple alligator less than, greater than, and equal to printables.  After printing on cardstock and laminating, I brought them to the playroom.

These alligator great than, less than printables are wonderful for comparing numbers!

We started by getting out our toy food and putting it in small piles that I knew my Four could count.  After counting each pile, he identified the larger one and chose which alligator he would need to swallow up the bigger amount.  After doing a variety of counting activities over the last year, he can count objects up to about 20 without much difficulty.

These alligator great than, less than printables are wonderful for comparing numbers!

My Four had no trouble figuring out greater than/less than for amounts under 10. If your child has trouble, you could draw a simple number line and show him how the larger numbers are farther on the line.

These alligator great than, less than printables are wonderful for comparing numbers!

He understood that when the piles had equal amounts, he needed to choose the equal sign.

These alligator great than, less than printables are wonderful for comparing numbers!

We also tried simple estimating.  I would set out small piles and ask my Four to tell me which was larger without counting.  Then he checked his guess.

These alligator great than, less than printables are wonderful for comparing numbers!

We used a few toys with my Five too, but it became obvious that to help him work with larger numbers we’d need small manipulatives. I got out my color tiles from my teaching days.  After figuring out the answer, I had him read it using the words on the alligator.  “24 is greater than 21.”

These alligator great than, less than printables are wonderful for comparing numbers!

These simple on the floor activities were far too easy for my Seven, who is going into second grade.  I started with some larger numbers to give her practice with place value.  When I saw that she knew that “2,465  is greater than 2,456”, I created more challenging problems involving fractions.  We started simple with 1/2 and 2/4.  With an accompanying illustration, she was able to see that those are equal.

Then I made it even tougher with the above example.  This was quite challenging for her, so after a few more problems I let her get back to her reading.

If your child is a little older and is ready for it, use the alligators to compare:

  • large numbers
  • fractions
  • decimals
  • percents

You can laminate the alligators and put adhesive magnets on the back to use on your chalkboard or dry erase board.

These alligator great than, less than printables are wonderful for comparing numbers!

After a teacher’s request, I’ve added a set of smaller alligators that you can use for small groups.

Get your free greater/less than pages!

CLICK TO DOWNLOAD

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Filed Under: Math Tagged With: first grade, kindergarten, comparing numbers

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47 Comments

  1. Sheila Hanmore

    May 11, 2022 at 7:03 am

    Love them!

    Reply to this comment
    • Heather Groth, Customer Support

      May 11, 2022 at 8:32 pm

      We’re so glad to hear it, Sheila!

      Reply to this comment
  2. Robert Everett

    July 27, 2020 at 12:49 am

    I really appreciate your materials. My grand kids are having fun with them. If you just remember the alligator always tries to eat the larger number no matter if it is on the right or left. His mouth is always trying to eat the larger.
    Sometimes kids were taught alligator mouth or birds beak. The beak of the bird always points or pecks at the smaller number.

    Reply to this comment
  3. Jess

    January 26, 2020 at 12:17 pm

    Thank you, thank you, thank you for offering your ideas FREE! And you make it so easy to print! I appreciate you!

    Reply to this comment
  4. Mama

    September 12, 2019 at 1:33 pm

    Thank you so much for sharing this greater/less than printable! I was going to make something similar but you saved me time.
    We’re going to use these cute gators with playcards/uno cards (wonderful versatile teaching tools that they are), minifigures, popsicle sticks, coupons, pom poms, dice…whatever our hands fall on during math class next week.

    Reply to this comment
    • Anna G

      October 1, 2019 at 3:57 pm

      I’m so glad you liked this!

      Reply to this comment
  5. Jennifer W.

    September 9, 2019 at 7:28 pm

    Thank you! Im looking forward to using these to introduce greater than/less than to my firsties. what a fun way to learn and practice.
    Do you have these available in black and white?

    Reply to this comment
    • Anna G

      September 17, 2019 at 6:39 pm

      No, I’m sorry, Jennifer, not at this time! Maybe someday I’ll have time to add a black and white option to my old printables, but I don’t think that will be for quite some time.

      Reply to this comment
  6. Jasmine

    May 21, 2019 at 6:29 pm

    This was a great resource! My first graders completely got the concept of greater than and less than when I used the alligator analogy. This was the perfect visuals for the hands on activity I planned. I also appreciated the pictures of different ways to use the visuals. I will provide the students with numbers to compare and mini “Baby” GoldFish crackers to show the quantities. Just wanted to share in case anyone wants to try and thank you for sharing at no cost! As a teacher with a limited budget I appreciate it 🙂

    Reply to this comment
    • Anna G

      June 12, 2019 at 8:44 pm

      I’m so glad this helped, Jasmine! Thanks so much for your feedback! 🙂

      Reply to this comment
  7. Billie Ryan

    October 28, 2018 at 7:30 pm

    I love all of your printables! Thank you for sharing with no strings attached!

    Reply to this comment
    • Anna G

      October 30, 2018 at 5:33 pm

      You’re welcome, Billie!

      Reply to this comment
  8. Linda

    September 16, 2018 at 3:56 am

    Thanks for such a lovely resource, saved me lots of time (teacher).

    Reply to this comment
    • Anna G

      September 16, 2018 at 6:54 am

      You’re welcome, Linda! I’m glad this helped you!

      Reply to this comment
  9. Melissa

    January 8, 2018 at 10:37 am

    Do you happen to have this resource in Spanish?

    Reply to this comment
    • Anna G

      January 8, 2018 at 12:55 pm

      No – I’m only able to share resources in English at this time.

      Reply to this comment
  10. Ale Fejer

    October 19, 2017 at 1:20 pm

    You are a genius! I really love your work! Congratulations!

    Reply to this comment
    • Anna G

      October 19, 2017 at 5:51 pm

      I’m glad you like it!

      Reply to this comment
  11. Susan

    May 5, 2017 at 8:38 am

    Thank you for this great printable.

    Reply to this comment
    • Anna Geiger

      May 13, 2017 at 5:11 pm

      You’re very welcome, Susan!

      Reply to this comment
  12. Ayman Shaikh

    August 20, 2016 at 7:44 am

    I liked it n m very happy to see this because it helped me to teach my kids thanks.

    Reply to this comment
    • Anna Geiger

      August 24, 2016 at 9:17 pm

      I’m so glad this was helpful for you, Ayman!

      Reply to this comment
  13. Erika

    August 19, 2016 at 7:54 pm

    Thanks for this, much easier to print one already made than to reinvent the wheel! Thanks for sharing.

    Reply to this comment
    • Anna Geiger

      August 24, 2016 at 9:17 pm

      You’re very welcome, Erika!

      Reply to this comment
  14. Rebecca

    April 7, 2015 at 5:50 pm

    We are using this to help an autistic student in my classroom. Thank you for the fun resources!

    Reply to this comment
    • Anna Geiger

      April 18, 2015 at 8:11 pm

      You’re very welcome, Rebecca!

      Reply to this comment
  15. Claudia N.

    April 7, 2015 at 5:59 am

    This is great! I didn’t know how to teach my 5 years old this signs and now it looks soo easy. Thank you for your resources and printables. Are very useful!

    Reply to this comment
    • Anna Geiger

      April 7, 2015 at 6:35 am

      You’re very welcome, Claudia! You’re right – this is a very simple way to teach greater and less than. 🙂

      Reply to this comment
  16. Alexandra

    March 8, 2015 at 3:44 am

    From today I’m your new fan. I like many activities here, but I find the aligator a confusing concept because looks like the week one eats the strong one. A rhino is more explicit, will look as the many (the strong part) ward off the few .
    Thank you for all the ideas, you are a real inspiration!

    Reply to this comment
  17. Deb @ Living Montessori Now

    August 7, 2014 at 7:29 am

    What a fun printable, Anna … and I love your activity using toys! Thanks so much for sharing my post at PreK + K Sharing! I featured your post as the Free Printable of the Day at the Living Montessori Now Facebook page and on Pinterest. I also added it to my Free Alligator Printables post. 🙂

    Reply to this comment
    • Anna Geiger

      August 20, 2014 at 3:16 pm

      Thanks so much for the feature, Deb!

      Reply to this comment
  18. Kate

    July 26, 2014 at 5:31 pm

    I remember this being a really difficult concept in first grade (not which number was greater, but which way the sign should be)…will definitely use this to teach my own kids!

    Reply to this comment
    • Anna Geiger

      August 3, 2014 at 5:15 pm

      Yes, I was always confused by this too. I could never remember what to call the sign. Hopefully the printed words on the alligators will help!

      Reply to this comment

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