Bigger Than a Digger
Which numbers are bigger and which are smaller
How it plays
The screen splits into 'smaller than' and 'bigger than'. Numbers drift about and your child sends each to the right side. The ranges grow as the levels go on — first around five, then ten, then twenty.
What it's for
Which numbers are bigger and which are smaller. It adapts as your child plays: after a few rounds that go well it steps up a little, and after a couple of hard ones it quietly steps back. The level number only ever goes up. You can also set it up on the first screen: “How fast they wander”, “How many of each”, “Keep them where I put them”.
There is no score to lose and no way to fail. A wrong move is met with a gentle nudge, and a level ends when it's won.
Away from the screen: Bigger or smaller?
About two minutes, with things most homes have.
- Say a number between 1 and 10.
- Your child says whether it's bigger or smaller than 5, and shows it with a big stretch or a small crouch.
- Swap: they say a number, you stretch or crouch.
Three questions to ask while they play
- Is this number bigger or smaller than the one on the patch?
- How do you know?
- What number comes just before it?
Play together
Things to say or ask
- Is it bigger or smaller? How do you know?
- Which number would you rather have, in lollies?
- Show me on your fingers which is more.
Taking turns on one device: One player says 'bigger' or 'smaller' out loud; the other moves it. Swap every number.
Talk-about cards: a question a day for a week, for the car or the dinner table. Print them, or read them from your phone.
If they find it hard
On the first screen, turn "How many of each" down, or tick "Keep them where I put them". Or try Count on Me first: getting to know the numbers first.
A sheet to print
Print the Bigger Than a Digger sheet
One A4 page, in black and white or colour.
What it practises
- Bigger and smaller. Knowing which number is more, and which is less.
AC9MFN03 (Mathematics, Foundation); AC9M1N01 (Mathematics, Year 1) - Reading numbers. Knowing numerals and what they're called.
AC9MFN01 (Mathematics, Foundation)
The codes are from the Early Years Learning Framework V2.0 (for children from birth to five) and the Australian Curriculum v9 (Foundation to Year 2). Each links to the official wording. Every skill, and the games for it.
What it costs, and what we collect
Nothing, and nothing. There is no account, no advertising and no tracking of any kind. Which games have been played is remembered on your own device and is never sent anywhere. The full version is here, and it's short.
Where it lives
Bigger Than a Digger lives in The Bobbing Billabong — numbers and counting. It works on a phone, a tablet or a classroom screen, and once it's been opened it keeps working with no signal at all.
Updated