More and Less – Comparing Two Amounts

Judging more and less is one of the very earliest comparison skills, and it often develops even before a child can count reliably. Babies and toddlers can frequently tell a bigger pile of blocks from a smaller one just by a quick glance, long before they can say “there are seven blocks here.” Researchers call this rough, built-in sense for quantity the Approximate Number System – and remarkably, it has been observed not just in human infants but in many animal species too, suggesting it is a very deep, ancient part of how brains handle number.

Once counting becomes reliable, “more and less” sharpens into something more precise: comparing two counted numbers directly, and understanding what happens when you add or take away just one – the idea of one more and one less, a skill that leads directly into addition and subtraction.

Which Is More?

Comparing two numbers means deciding which one represents a bigger amount – the number that comes later when counting is always the larger one.

Which number is more: 9 or 6?

Counting up, 9 comes after 6, so 9 is more.

One More, One Less

What is one more than 8?

One more than 8 is 9 – the very next number when counting up.

Real-Life Application

Sharing sweets: checking who has more.
Comparing scores: in a game, who is ahead?
Baking: needing one more egg, or one less cup of sugar.

Key Takeaways

“More” and “less” are among the earliest comparison skills, present even before reliable counting.
The number that comes later in the counting sequence is always the larger one.
“One more” and “one less” lead directly into addition and subtraction.

Practice: More and Less

More or Less