Counting Teaching Resources
Teach counting skills this school year with printable worksheets, educational games, digital activities and more primary school resources designed to help students when they are learning to count.
This extensive collection of teaching resources aligned to the Australian curriculum includes maths mentals, MAB flashcards and more to save primary teachers time on lesson planning. Created by expert teachers, each resource in this maths 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 early years, students typically learn to:
- Recite the numbers in sequence
- Count objects by pointing to them and saying the corresponding number
- Recognise 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 of the common maths vocabulary terms related to counting that students encounter in primary school.
Numerals
Numerals is another word for the symbols that represent 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.
As an 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 then 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 a number of definitions, depending on how it's being used. But when it comes to counting, grouping refers to a method of organising 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 early years 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 — Maths 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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Christmas Printables – I Spy Worksheet Set
Find, colour and count the Christmas objects in these fun Christmas I Spy worksheets.
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Christmas Worksheet - Search and Find
Practise 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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Numbers and Words to 20 – Worksheet Pack
Use this set of worksheets when students are practising connecting numbers to words and quantities.
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Christmas Maths Puzzle - Counting to 10
Count groups up to 10 with a printable Christmas maths puzzle.
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Numbers 1-20 Puzzle Pack
Identify and sequence the numbers from 1 to 20 with a set of Numbers 1-20 puzzles for kids.
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Number Talk Task Cards - Ten Frames
Build number sense skills with this set of 30 ten and double ten frame maths talk task cards.
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Tens Frame Mats (Single and Double)
Introduce these tens frame mats to your students to promote number sense with hands-on learning.
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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 practising how to count by ones.
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Counting Crowns Numbers 1-10
Create number crowns when learning to count to ten with this set of crown templates.
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Ten Frame Printable Templates
Use these printable ten frames in various math lessons to reinforce number sense and other essential skills.
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Paralympic Games Count and Colour Worksheets
Count and tally Paralympic icons with our engaging I Spy Worksheets, which are perfect for enhancing your students' observation and counting skills.
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Which Is More? Counting Card Game
Compare and order collections up to 20 with this set of counting cards.
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Numbers 1–20 Peg Cards
Facilitate counting practise with this set of multisensory peg cards.
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Counting 1-20 Worksheet Pack
Practise counting to 20 with this set of worksheets ready to go!
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Monster Counting Mats Numbers 1-10
Count monster eyes up to 10 with this fun counting activity for the early years classroom.
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Build a City Counting Game
Build towers consisting of numbers up to 10 with this fun build a city game.
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Counting Up to 20 Zoo Animals Worksheet Pack
Count the different animal groups on this set of three worksheets perfect for practising fundamental counting skills.
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Counting Within 20 Picture Puzzle
Practise counting objects within 20 and matching groups to numbers through this 15-piece winter scene picture puzzle.
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Jellyfish Count to 10 Match-Up Craft
Use this fun teaching resource to help consolidate your students’ knowledge of counting to 10.
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Roll, Count, and Cover - Dot Day Activities
Build fine motor and counting skills with a set of printable Roll, Count, and Colour Dot Day Activities.
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Counting 1-20 Matching Game for Foundation and Grade One
Use this matching game in your early years classroom to teach students to count quantities and match them to numbers (1-20).
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Numbers to 30 - Printable Tens Frames
Use a printable ten frame when working on counting, addition and subtraction, odd and even numbers, or place value.
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Counting to 100 - Dot Day Worksheet
Celebrate International Dot Day with this fun, hands-on way to practise counting to 100.
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Rolling to 100 Board Game
Practise counting to 100 by 1's with this interactive hundreds board game for multiple players.
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Ten in the Bed - Counting Activity
A fun hands-on 'Ten in the Bed' number rhyme activity to help students sequence numbers and count backwards from 10.
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Colour Counting Worksheet
A worksheet to consolidate the concept of numbers and associated values.
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One, Two, Three, Four, Five - Counting Rhyme Poster
A counting rhyme to use when learning to count to ten.
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Counting 1-12 Number Game
Practise counting from 1-12 with this fun alien-themed counting game.
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I Can Count To Ten – Cut and Paste Worksheet
Use this set of counting worksheets to help your students sequence numbers from 0 to 10.
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Hickory Dickory Dock – Nursery Rhyme Poster
Use this “Hickory Dickory Dock” nursery rhyme poster to teach your youngest students about rhyme, rhythm and counting.
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Ten Frame Matching Game
Use this ten frame game to strengthen your students’ number sense and foundational maths skills.
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Finger Counting Cut and Paste
Count to ten using this finger counting cut and paste worksheet.