The principle of one‐to‐one correspondence is involved in sharing objects by distributive counting. Understanding one‐to‐one correspondence has been inferred from preschool children's success in sharing. This inference is questioned on methodological grounds. Twenty‐four children, aged between 3#fr1/2> and 4#fr1/2> years, took part in a study which compared their judgements of shares in conditions where the shares were either visible or invisible, equal or unequal, and of either small or large numbers of heterogeneous or homogeneous objects. Children judged better when the shares were small and visible. Whether children typically develop an understanding of one‐to‐one correspondence first in the context of sharing and then in other contexts such as counting or using guidelines remains unknown, as studies of these other contexts typically expose children to a conflict between one‐to‐one correspondence and perceptual cues.