This Subitising Activity Is Great in a “Pinch!” 

Looking for a hands-on subitising activity to give your students practise subitising small collections up to 10? This resource has got you covered! All you need are some pegs or dry-erase markers to get your students subitising. 

This resource includes: 

• Subitising clip cards 1 – 10
• Teacher instructions
• Student instructions
• Answer key cards

This subitising activity is a great addition to your stations, and would also work well as an independent activity for fast finishers or as a guided group activity.

What Is an Example of Subitising? 

If your students ever ask why they need to learn to subitise, point them to these examples from daily life: 

• Dice games:  Through subitising, players can instantly recognise what number they rolled.
• Card games:   At a glance, players can subitise how many cards their opponents have left. 
• Shopping:  Shoppers can use subitising to quickly tell how many items are available or the number they have placed in their cart. 
• Cooking: Cooks subitise ingredients in their recipes to be able to prepare food more efficiently. 
• Friends and Family – Subitise to instantly tell if everyone in your group is where they should be.

Instructions:  

1. Print the subitising cards on cardboard and then cut them apart. Laminate for longevity. 
2. Provide students with a card and either pegs or a dry-erase marker if you laminated the cards. 
3. Students look at the number in the center and clip or circle every shape with that many symbols. 
4. Students check their answers with the provided answer cards. 

Print, Cut and Clip

This subitising activity is available in easy-to-print PDF and Google Slides format. Use the drop-down arrow located on the download button to choose which option works best for your students. 

This resource was created by Lauren Borst, a teacher and a Teach Starter collaborator.

Don’t Stop There! 

We have many more subitising activities to help you teach this important concept. Here are some we think your students will enjoy. 

teaching resource

Subitising Mazes (Numbers 1 - 10)

Solve our subitising mazes to have fun practising subitising quantities up to 10!

teaching resource

Subitising to 10 Interactive Task Cards

Practise subitising to 10 with these varied and engaging interactive task cards.

teaching resource

Subitising Card Game

Utilise this subitising card game to reinforce number recognition and subitising skills with some friendly competition!