Comparing numbers means knowing which of two amounts is bigger, smaller or the same. It sounds basic, but it connects counting to the size of numbers, and it is the ground that adding and taking away later stand on.
Many young children judge “more” by how much space a group takes up, so a long, spread-out line of five can look like more than a tight bunch of six. Playful comparing helps them learn to trust counting instead.
What the guidance says
Development Matters describes three- and four-year-olds comparing quantities using the language “more than” and “fewer than”. In Reception it lists comparing numbers and understanding the “one more than or one less than” relationship between consecutive numbers.
Seeing numbers in a line
Researchers Siegler and Booth found that as children grow, their sense of where numbers sit on a line becomes more accurate, and that this was linked to their wider maths achievement.
In a later study, Ramani and Siegler found that preschoolers who played a simple linear number board game, moving a token along squares numbered 1 to 10, improved in comparing numbers and other number skills compared with children who played a version with colours instead of numbers.
Games to try
- Two plates: put a few raisins on each. Who has more? Count to check.
- Make it the same: “I have four, you have two. How can we make it fair?”
- Tower race: build two block towers and compare. Which has one more?
- Number line race: a paper track from 1 to 10, a die, two toys. Who is further along?
- Card flip: each turn over a number card. Whose is bigger? Use dots if numerals are new.
Use the words naturally
Try “fewer” as well as “less”, and “the same as” when amounts match. Ask your child to explain: “How do you know?” If they say a group has more because it looks longer, line the two groups up side by side so each object has a partner, and look together.