How to Teach Counting 1 to 10 at Home (Without Flashcards)

By the Print and Learn team · 4 min read

Many children can recite "one, two, three... ten" long before they can actually count a pile of apples. That is because counting is really three different skills, and they develop at different times.

The three parts of counting

• Saying the numbers in order. This is like learning a song. Children pick it up from rhymes, stairs and everyday chatter.
• One number for each object. Teachers call this one-to-one correspondence. Your child touches each object once and says one number for it. This is where most mistakes happen: skipping an apple, or counting one twice.
• Knowing the last number is the total. When you ask "So how many are there?", a child who understands this says "five" without counting again.

Everyday ways to practice

• Touch and move. Ask your child to slide each grape across the table as they count it. Moving objects makes it much harder to skip one.
• Count anything that comes in small groups. Buttons on a shirt, spoons on the table, birds on a wire. Keep groups under five at first.
• Ask "how many?" at the end. After counting, ask again. If your child starts counting from the beginning, they have not yet linked the last number to the total. That is fine; just say "Five! There are five" and move on.
• Count backward too. Rockets taking off and "5 little monkeys" rhymes make backward counting fun and build stronger number sense.

When to bring in a worksheet

Worksheets work best after your child has counted real objects. A picture of apples is more abstract than real apples, so think of the page as a check, not the first lesson. Start with Count the Apples or Count the Balloons, where every group is small and the pictures are clear. Older children in LKG can try Count and Circle and then write the numbers with Trace 6 to 10.

Signs your child is ready for more

Once your child counts groups of five correctly and answers "how many?" without recounting, move up to groups of 6 to 10. Mixed-up arrangements (not in a neat line) are the next challenge, because children have to keep track of what they have already counted.