Counting Teaching Resources
Teach counting skills this school year with printable worksheets, educational games, digital activities and more elementary school resources designed to help students when they are learning to count.
This extensive collection of curriculum-aligned teaching resources includes Base 10 flashcards, subitizing worksheets and more to save elementary teachers time on lesson planning.
Created by expert teachers, each resource in this math collection has been carefully reviewed and curated by our team. That means it's ready to use in the classroom! You'll even find editable resources, plus differentiated options.
New to teaching counting, or just looking for fresh ways to engage your students? Read on for a primer from our teaching team!
What Is Counting?
It may seem obvious, but let's start at the beginning.
The basic counting process involves a one-to-one correspondence between the items in the set and the counting numbers. It's a fundamental mathematical concept taught in the early years that helps our students develop number sense and mathematical skills.
In the primary grades of elementary, students typically learn to:
- Recite the numbers in sequence
- Count objects by pointing to them and saying the corresponding number
- Recognize and write numerals
- Count forward and backward
- Skip count by twos, fives and tens
- Use counting strategies to solve simple addition and subtraction problems
Counting Vocabulary Terms
Let's dive into some common math vocabulary terms related to counting that students encounter in elementary school.
Numerals
Numerals is another word for symbols representing numbers, such as 1, 2 and 3.
Digits
Digits are the individual symbols that are used to make up numerals. For example, let's look at the numeral 12. The digits 1 and 2 make up the numeral 12.
Skip Counting
One of the early skills students learn in counting is the process of skip counting, in which they literally skip over numbers. A precursor to traditional addition, skip counting involves counting by a specific number sequence, such as 2, 4, 6, 8, etc.
For example, when skip counting by 2s, a student would start at 2, counting out 4, 6, 8, 10 and so on.
Counting On
Counting on is a simple strategy for performing addition. Using this strategy, students start with a smaller number and count up by the number being added to find a sum.
For example, if a student faces the addition problem 3 + 4, they would start with the number 3 and count on 4 more: 4, 5, 6, 7. In this case, the answer is 7.
Counting Back
The opposite of counting on is counting back. This strategy for solving subtraction problems involves starting with a larger number and counting down by the number being subtracted to find a difference.
For example, a student who wants to solve the subtraction problem 5 - 3 could count backward from the larger number to find the solution. In this case, the larger number is 5. The student would start with 5, counting back 3 — 4, 3, 2. The answer is 2.
Tally Marks
Tally marks are a great tool for teaching early counting skills. When teaching counting with tally marks, you ask your students to draw a certain number of tally marks to represent a given quantity.
For example, if a student is going to count to four using tally marks, they would draw a single vertical line and then draw three more lines next to it.
Tally marks are typically drawn in groups of five, so if a student were asked to count to five using tally marks, they would draw a diagonal line crossing through the four vertical lines to represent all five.
Understanding how to create sets of five tally marks can help students count to larger numbers easily. For example, if a student is asked to count to 15, they would create three sets of five tally marks.
Grouping
The term grouping has several definitions, depending on how it's being used. But when it comes to counting, grouping refers to a method of organizing objects into groups of equal size to facilitate counting.
Sets of tally marks are a perfect example of grouping — they're a visual representation of grouping numbers into sets of five.
How to Teach Counting
Are you looking for some fun ways to teach counting in your classroom? The more hands-on and active, the better!
In addition to the worksheets, games and other activities in this collection, try some of these fun ideas from our teacher team!
- Use Snacktivities — Math manipulatives help young kinesthetic learners understand counting by making the concepts more concrete, and using snacks adds a real-world element to the lesson! Challenge students to string snacks like cereal loops for practice with grouping or simply to count out exact numbers of gummy bears. Just make sure no one samples the manipulatives!
- Get Arty — Incorporating art into counting activities adds an element of fun. For example, ask kids to draw a certain number of circles, squares or other shapes and then count them out loud. This also helps students work fine muscles and develops their understanding of basic shapes.
- Play Store — Even before students learn about currency, kids enjoy the role-play of "shopping" like adults. Use this to your advantage by setting up a classroom "store" and asking children to count out the correct amount of play money to purchase items.
- Get Active — Encourage movement and help students get their wiggles out while learning. Ask children to count out loud while jumping or hopping, or play a game of Simon Says that involves specific numbers of a specific movement.
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I Can Draw 100 Shapes Worksheet — 100th Day Activity
Celebrate the 100th Day of School in the classroom with printable 100th Day of School Math worksheets.
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Thanksgiving I Spy Worksheet
Have a bit of counting and coloring fun with a Thanksgiving worksheet for Kindergarten.
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Thanksgiving Math Center - Counting Objects to 20
Practice one-to-one correspondence up to 20 with this set of 20 fall-themed task cards.
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Halloween Count and Compare Worksheet
Have a spooktacular time practicing number comparisons with a count and compare Halloween math worksheet.
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Counting Clip Cards - Insects
Practice counting objects with a set of 18 insect-themed counting clip cards.
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Counting Clip Cards - On the Farm
Practice counting objects with a set of 18 farm-themed counting clip cards.
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Counting Clip Cards - Dinosaurs
Practice counting objects with a set of 18 dinosaur-themed counting clip cards.
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Fall Counting Clip Cards
Practice counting objects with a set of 18 fall-themed counting clip cards.
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Counting Clip Cards - Veterans Day Activity
Integrate concepts of counting into your Veterans Day lesson plans with a set of 18 printable Veterans Day clip cards.
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Halloween Math - Counting Clip Cards
Practice counting objects with a set of 18 Halloween clip cards.
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Counting Clip Cards - Columbus Day
Practice counting objects with a Columbus Day math activity.
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Counting to 100 — Dot Day Worksheet
Celebrate International Dot Day with this fun, hands-on way to learn how to count to 100 using ten frames.
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Counting Objects Hunt - Numbers 1-10
Use one-to-one correspondence skills to practice counting objects up through 10.
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Counting Objects Sorting Numbers 6-10
Practice counting 6 – 10 objects with this colorful sorting activity.
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Counting Objects Dominoes Numbers 11–20
Practice counting objects by matching 28 numeral and picture dominoes.
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Counting Objects Parking Lot - Numbers 1-10
Practice counting objects and recognizing numerals with a match-up style game.
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Four in a Row - Numbers 1-5
Match picture cards with numerals to practice counting to 5.
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Four in a Row - Numbers 6-10
Match picture cards with numerals to practice counting to 10.
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Counting Objects Board Game - Numbers 6-10
Practice counting to 10 with an engaging board game.
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Counting Objects Board Game - Numbers 1-5
Practice basic math skills with a counting objects board game.
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Race to Number 10
Practice counting and sequencing objects up through 10 with this hands-on or interactive game.
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Counting Objects Bear Hunt - Numbers 6–10
Use one-to-one correspondence and basic counting skills with this hands-on activity.
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Counting Objects Sort Numbers 1-5
Practice counting 1 – 5 objects with this colorful sorting activity.
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Cupcake Counting Activity
Practice one-to-one correspondence with this cupcake counting activity.
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Search and Find – Food Edition
A fun, search and find counting activity
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Dot-to-Dot Worksheets – Counting by Ones
Use this set of 3 dot-to-dot worksheets to get your youngest students practicing how to count by ones.
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Christmas Counting Worksheet - Search and Find
Practice counting with your students to get them in the mood for the holidays with this fun Christmas search, count, and find activity.
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I Can Count - Worksheet
A worksheet for students to practice counting up to 10 objects.
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100 Days of School Tracker Poster
Use this poster with your students to track their first 100 days at school.
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Counting Collections and Connecting Numbers PowerPoint
A 16-page editable PowerPoint presentation to use as part of a counting lesson when teaching place value to younger students.
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Numbers 1 to 20 Cupcake Matchup Activity
Use this matchup activity to consolidate your students' knowledge of numbers to 20.
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Number Match-Up Activity (1-20)
Use this match-up activity to consolidate your students' knowledge of numbers up to 20.