'A little' and 'a few' are quantifiers meaning ‘some’.
'Little' and 'few' have negative meanings. We use them to mean ‘not as much’.
We use 'a little' with singular uncountable nouns.We use 'a few' with plural countable nouns.
We use 'little' with uncountable nouns. We use 'few' with plural countable nouns.