Kindergarten children like to run, move and play. Gain their attention with line up games. Explain that how big they are changes as they mature and isn't good or bad. Ask students to stand up and look at the other students. Show by using two students that one is taller than the other and one is shorter. Have students see how fast they can line up from tallest to shortest. Start the line with the tallest student. Gently help those who don't quite understand. Have the kindergarten students line up several times against the clock. Change it up by starting with the shortest and going shorter to taller.
Pair up kindergarten students of different heights. Provide large sheets of butcher or banner paper. Ask the students to alternately draw around their partner as their partner lies on a piece of the paper cut to child size. Show them a foot-long ruler and how to use it to measure the drawn outline of their partner. Students will probably need some adult assistance for this step. Help them write the result over the head of their figure. Show how one is taller than the other. Make this more of a game by telling the kindergarten students to hold up their outlines and to find another figure as short or as tall as themselves. Divide the taller from the shorter.
Choose one person to start by being the "Chooser." Ask students to walk around in a circle with the Chooser in the center. You call out either "taller" or "shorter." The Chooser has to name someone that matches your call, adding height. For example, if you call out, "shorter," they have to name someone who is shorter. The students might say, "Anne is shorter than I am" or "Shane is taller than me." If they choose correctly, the person named becomes the Chooser. As the kindergarten students grasp the concept, play the game more quickly.
Provide a variety of objects, some taller than others, such as a pencil, a doll, a book, a broom, ruler and an arrow. The kindergarten students choose one item and see how many objects they can find in the room that are half as tall and twice as tall as their object. They point out which are taller and which are shorter.
Prepare worksheets with this concept: Show one object at the top and pictures of other objects on the page. Kindergarten students put a "T" by those object that are taller than the object at the top and an "S" by those that are shorter. Or, show two objects together and have students choose either the taller or shorter of the two.