More or Less, Big or Small: Teaching Comparison Words
By the Print and Learn team · 4 min read
Words like more, fewer, bigger, taller and shorter seem simple, but they are an important part of early math. Comparing two groups or two objects is how children start to understand numbers as amounts, not just names.
Start with what you can see
- Big and small: compare shoes, spoons, teddies and fruit.
- Tall and short: stand family members back to back, or line up water bottles.
- Long and short: compare ribbons, pencils or snakes made of play dough.
- Heavy and light: hold an apple in one hand and a grape in the other.
More and fewer
Put three crackers on one plate and five on another. "Which plate has more?" Many children answer by looking at which group is spread out further, not which has more items. Lining the two groups up side by side, one-to-one, helps them see the difference clearly.
Use the words every day
- "Your glass has more milk than mine."
- "This towel is longer than that one."
- "Which tower is taller? Can you make it even taller?"
Next step: before and after
Once children are comfortable comparing amounts, they can compare numbers: which comes before 5, which comes after 7. This builds the number line in their heads.