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Big and Small
Tap the answer you think is right — you can always try again.
Full screen — no distractions
What is the Big and Small game?
Big and Small is a free online size game for children aged 2 to 5. Every instruction is spoken aloud, so no reading is needed. A map of six habitats holds ten different ways to compare size — tapping the big one, matching a shadow, ordering smallest to biggest, resizing an object to fit, choosing the right doorway, sorting real things — and each habitat you finish rescues an animal into your own zoo.
- Ages 2–5
- Spoken instructions
- No reading needed
- 6 habitats · 40 rounds
- Saves your progress
- Free, no signup
Six places to visit
Comparing size is not one skill, and a child who can pick the bigger of two apples may still not be able to put four in order. Every habitat trains a different part of it, and finishing one rescues its animal into the zoo.
Habitat 1
Grassy Plains
Two copies of the same thing, one big and one small — tap the one you are asked for. Then trees and giraffes stretched taller or shorter, for tall and short.
Pure visual comparison. Because both objects are identical, nothing but size can decide — which is exactly the judgement being trained. Tall and short arrive here too, because a child who only ever hears 'big' has one word for four different ideas.
Habitat 2
Big Blue Sea
A grey silhouette with three copies below it, only one the right size. Then four or five objects where one is not quite like the others.
Comparing to a remembered size is harder than comparing two things side by side — it is the step between 'bigger than that' and 'about this big'. Spotting the odd size out adds precision: the gaps get deliberately smaller as you go.
Habitat 3
Jungle Trail
Shuffled sizes to tap in order, smallest to biggest and back again — then the same idea as a tower that builds itself on screen, biggest block at the bottom.
Ordering by size (seriation) is the skill that later becomes measuring, and it needs each item held against every other rather than against one. The tower makes that visible: a wrong block is obvious before anyone says so.
Habitat 4
Busy Town
Two doorways, one big and one small — send each object through the one it fits. Then a bus, an ant, a whale and a key, all drawn exactly the same size, into the big box or the small box.
The doorway turns size into a purpose rather than a quiz. The sorting is the opposite move: everything is drawn identically on purpose, so the child cannot look — only know. This is where size stops being about the picture.
Habitat 5
Dino Valley
Grow or shrink an object until it matches an outline, using one big button and one little one. Then decide which of two animals a piece of food belongs to.
Growing makes size continuous instead of a choice between two cards — the child aims rather than picks. Feeding is comparison against a reference: both animals are the same animal, so only the food's size can settle who it is for.
Habitat 6
Star Field
All ten mechanics, ten rounds deep, and it opens only once four other habitats are done.
Mixing the mechanics is genuinely harder than any one of them: the child has to work out what is being asked before working out the answer. It is the closest thing here to a boss level, and it is worth the wait.
How to play
- 1
Choose where to go
The map opens straight away — no signup, no download. Every card is a picture, so a child who cannot read can pick their own habitat. Two are open at the start and the rest unlock as you finish them.
- 2
Listen and tap
A voice reads every instruction aloud; tap the speaker to hear it again. Everything is a single tap on a large target. A wrong tap wobbles and the question is asked again — after two tries the right answer glows, so nobody gets stuck and nothing is marked in red. Bored of one? “Try a different one” swaps it for another activity on the spot.
- 3
Rescue the animal
Finish a habitat and its animal moves into your zoo, where it can be tapped to hear its name and made bigger or smaller with two paw buttons. The zoo remembers between visits, and finishing the map opens an endless trail.
What it teaches
- Comparison vocabulary
- Big, small, bigger, smaller — and then tall, short, long. These are the first measurement words a child uses, and hearing them spoken in context matters far more than seeing them written.
- Seriation
- Putting several things in size order, forwards and backwards. Preschool ordering work is the direct precursor to reading a ruler, and to number order later on.
- Size constancy
- Understanding that a thing keeps its real size even when the picture of it changes. The sorting habitat rests entirely on this, which is why a bus and an ant are drawn identically there.
- Aiming, not just picking
- Growing an object to match an outline turns size into something continuous. A child who can only choose between two cards has not yet met the idea that sizes sit on a scale.
- Attention and precision
- Rounds get visually closer together as a habitat goes on, so the child has to look rather than grab. That deliberate pause is half of the learning.
- Choosing and returning
- The map, the locked habitats and the zoo give a pre-reader something to decide and something to come back for — which is what turns one activity into a routine.
What to expect at each age
A rough guide, not a test. Children arrive at these in their own order.
| Age | Usually can |
|---|---|
| Around 2 | Picks the big one when the difference is obvious. Uses 'big' long before 'small'. The Grassy Plains and the doorways are usually enough. |
| Around 3 | Handles both words reliably and can order three things by size. Starts managing the shadow matching, which needs holding a size in mind. |
| Around 4 | Orders four or more, spots a size that is only slightly different, and starts using comparatives — 'bigger than mine'. |
| Around 5 | Knows real-world size without a picture, separates tall from big, and understands size is relative: a dog is big beside a mouse, small beside a horse. |
Four things to say while they play
The game does the tapping. These do the teaching.
- “Which one is bigger?” — then wait. The pause is doing the work.
- “Bigger than what?” — the question that turns a label into a comparison.
- “Show me with your hands how big.” — moves the idea into the body.
- “You found the small one. It was tricky, they were close!” — praise the looking, not the child.
Five ways to keep going with the screen off
The shoe line
Line up everyone's shoes from smallest to biggest by the door. Rebuild it whenever someone comes home.
Two boxes
Label one box BIG and one SMALL and let them sort a basket of toys. Argue about the middle ones — the arguing is the lesson.
Nesting anything
Mixing bowls, measuring cups, stacking rings. Anything that fits inside something else teaches order without a single instruction.
Big and small hunt
On a walk: find something bigger than you, then something smaller than your thumb. Photograph both.
Shadow puppets
Move a hand nearer the torch and the shadow grows. Same hand, different size — the idea behind the shadow-matching habitat.
Carry on from here
Big and Small poster
Printable wall chart — big things on one side, small on the other.
Tall and Short
The same comparison, turned on its side — height instead of size.
Long and Short
Comparing length with ribbons.
Size Sort
More ordering practice, smallest to biggest.
All preschool maths games
Counting, shapes, colours, patterns and sorting.
The preschool hub
Every tap-and-play activity for ages 2–5 in one place.
Frequently Asked Questions
- What age is the Big and Small game for?
- Ages 2 to 5. Two- and three-year-olds usually manage the first two habitats comfortably; ordering, resizing and real-world sorting suit four- and five-year-olds. Because nothing is ever marked wrong, a younger child can wander the whole map without getting stuck.
- Does my child need to be able to read to play?
- No. Every instruction is spoken aloud and mirrored by a visual cue — the word BIG is drawn big and 'small' is drawn small. Even the map is pictures, so a child chooses where to go without an adult reading it to them. The written words on screen are for the grown-up. Tap the speaker icon to repeat any instruction.
- Is the Big and Small game free?
- Yes, completely. No signup, no download, no ads inside the game, and no time limit. It opens and plays in any browser on a phone, tablet, laptop or classroom whiteboard.
- How long does it take to play?
- A habitat is six rounds — three or four minutes, which is about the single-activity attention span of a three-year-old. The whole map is forty rounds across six habitats, and most children take several sittings to get through it. Progress is saved on the device, so stopping halfway costs nothing, and finishing a habitat offers a one-tap jump straight to the next one.
- What is the zoo?
- Every habitat you finish rescues its animal — a giraffe, a whale, an elephant, a bus, a dinosaur, a rocket — into a zoo that keeps them between visits. In the zoo a child can tap an animal to hear its name and use two paw buttons to make it bigger or smaller. There is no scoring there: it is free play, which is where this age group actually consolidates the idea.
- What if my child gets bored of a particular activity?
- Under every board there is a quiet “try a different one” button. It swaps that activity for a different one straight away — a new game in the same slot, not a penalty and not a skipped question. The animal still has to be earned, so nobody can tap their way to the reward, but nobody is ever stuck on a game they have gone off either. It can be used as often as they like.
- Is it the same game every time?
- No. The objects, the sizes, the mechanics and the order of questions are generated fresh each time, so replaying a habitat is a new game. What stays fixed is the difficulty curve inside each one — sizes start far apart and get closer — so the child always knows what is being asked.
- What happens when the map is finished?
- Every habitat stays open, and an endless trail unlocks that mixes all ten mechanics and keeps going for as long as the child wants, counting a streak. Nothing is ever taken away, and there is no point at which the game says you are done.
- What maths skill is this actually teaching?
- Comparison and seriation — the pre-measurement strand of every early-years maths curriculum. Children who can order objects by size and use comparative language move into standard measurement, and into number order, with far less friction.
- Can I use this in a classroom or nursery?
- Yes. It works on an interactive whiteboard, needs no accounts, and the six habitats map onto six separate carpet-time activities. The printable poster and the off-screen ideas below are designed to extend it away from the screen.
- What should I say while my child plays?
- Ask 'bigger than what?' rather than confirming the answer. Size is relative, and that single question is what moves a child from labelling one object 'big' to comparing two. There is a short script of phrases further down this page.
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