Subitizing Activities Enhance Number Recognition

This set of teaching slides includes 74 virtual subitizing cards that can be displayed to students during whole-group or small-group instruction. Answers follow on the next slide. 

Asking students to quickly determine the quantity of a small number of objects displayed is a foundational math skill. The ability to subitize supports many other essential areas of math, including: 

• Number sense
• Counting
• Mental math
• Pattern recognition
• Problem-solving

What is Subitizing? 

Subitizing is the ability to instantly recognize the quantity of a small group of objects without counting them. It is a foundational skill in early number sense development. There are many ways to practice this with students! Here are a few ideas:

• Ten Frames: Display various quantities of counters in a ten frame. Ask students to quickly identify how many counters are present.
• Dice Games: Roll dice and ask students to quickly determine the number of dots on each die. 
• Bingo: Play bingo with number patterns. Call out numbers and have students cover the corresponding patterns on their bingo cards. 
• Flashlight Fun: Turn the lights down low and shine a flashlight briefly on a dot pattern, asking students to determine the number of dots. 
• Matching Games: Show a set of dots and ask students to select the corresponding number from a set of number cards.

Directions:

1. Display a subitizing card to students for a few seconds. 
2. Students quickly call out, raise their fingers, or write on a whiteboard to indicate how many objects they saw.
3. Flip to the next card so students can check their answer. 
4. Continue to the next subitizing card. 

Simply Download and Display!

This resource is available in easy-to-download Google Slides format. Use the drop-down arrow located on the download button to select this option.

This resource was created by Lindsey Phillips, a teacher in Michigan and a Teach Starter collaborator.

More Subitizing Activities

Looking for more subitizing activities for your students? Check out these favorites from our Teach Starter Team.

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Subitizing Battle

Quickly subitize and compare numbers up to 5 with this fast-paced card game.

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Aliens in a Spaceship Counting and Subitizing Game

Download a fun, hands-on game for teaching kids to count and use one-to-one correspondence or to subitize.

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Number Recognition Bingo — Numbers 0 - 10 (Small Group)

Reinforce your students’ number recognition skills with this fun BINGO game!