Sometimes, it can get a bit difficult to teach kindergarten kids about the concepts of “long” and “short” or, more precisely, the concept of length comparisons. The reason is the abstract nature of both these terms. The understanding of the concept of length depends on an object’s surroundings. Hence, it’s a relative term.
When we compare, a ruler is longer than an eraser but is shorter than a hockey stick. No matter how tricky, the understanding concept of comparison between different lengths is crucial for a kindergarten kid to understand measurements later.
One effective way of teaching this is by engaging them in various long-short activities for preschool.
Read on to know about certain general rules that will help for better understanding—
- The first step involves explaining the meaning of the terms. It is essential to understand a term by a child before expecting him or her to use it.
- After that, you can start by teaching about different simple pairs of opposites. For instance: long and not long. Once the child is able to grasp the concept of long, you can introduce them to the term short. Itwill prevent them from getting confused between the terms.
- Try to give real-life examples to make the child understand. Itwill help them understand things better.
- You can also make them practice on along short worksheet. Itwill help you in assessing their progress.
These guidelines will be helpful in successfully teaching your students the concepts of “long” and “short.” But you have to avoid certain common mistakes, including using words in the wrong context just to make kids understand.
For instance, we don’t say, a person is long. We rather say they are tall. Avoid saying, “A person is long” just because you want your students to understand the concept of length.
If you specifically want to teach about height, then get them engaged in various height activities for kindergarten. Yes, it might sometimes be overwhelming to teach kindergarten kids, but it becomes easy with the right approach of teaching and worksheet practice.