One of the students I see for therapy really struggles to understand the concepts of more, less and equal. This hands-on activity with sweets and a peg helped! 
What we used:
- Sweets
- A peg
- A big dice
- Worksheet for extension(get it HERE)
Teacher
Explain more and less with the <,> symbols:
Imagine the peg is a hungry crocodile(it almost looks like one) and this crocodile only wants to eat the sweets that are the most(more). So he opens his mouth towards the most sweets. (Press the peg so the “mouth” opens, it looks like the more symbol)
See the other end is closed because the crocodile does not want the least(less) of the sweets. It looks like the less symbol.
If the sweets are the same(equal) on both sides, the crocodile does not open his mouth because he can’t decide which pile of sweets to go for and the you get the equal symbol(which is =).
Student
Use the dice and throw it twice, counting out sweets each time. Now let your hungry crocodile find the “more” pile. Here the student is comparing the number of sweets, physical objects, but must realize it represents the numbers. When moving onto numbers on a worksheet, it will be more relevant to the student, thus easier to grasp the concept.
Using the worksheet
When using the worksheet, the student still counts out the sweets, but using the worksheet as prompt. He/she can still use the peg to decide which symbol to use and then write the right symbol down.
A simple, hands-on way to explain more, less and equal concepts!
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