Preschool Counting Worksheets
This is the first chance you have to attach a mathematically meaning to students and their world. This skill is often taught in a rote manner. While many teachers start by teaching the counting numbers 1 to 10. I often find it much more advantageous to focus on 1 to 5 and then once they have mastered it, we move on to 6 to 9. I then move on to two place values and teach 10 to 12. Students find this much more meaningful when presented in this way, in my experience. Having taught for over 3 decades, I can say with confidence that my students have had the highest level of success and confidence when using this method. These worksheets and lesson introduce students to the concept of counting.
Aligned Standard: K.CC.A.1
- Doggie Jumps: Step-By-Step Lesson- Count the number of boxes, as the dog hops from box to box.
- Guided Worksheet -Fill in all the missing boxes by counting from 1-10.
- Guided Explanation - We count simple numbers as we keep on learning this skill.
- Independent Practice Worksheet - It is a good idea to have your kids put the correct numbers above each object-set.
- Matching Worksheet - I tried to make the answers different enough in order to speed up the process.
- Answer Keys - These are for all the unlocked materials above.
Lesson Sheets
Counting rain drops and candy! Chalk it up to a good day.
- Lesson 1 - Paul is trying to count the raindrops. Help him count the raindrops.
- Lesson 2 - Santa dropped some pieces of candy. Lets count them all.
- Lesson 3 - Count the hearts starting from beginning to end. A good idea is to keep track of the number by writing the new count at the end of each row.
- Guided Lesson - Write the missing numbers [in numerical order] in the boxes below.
Practice Worksheets
I encourage students to get into the habit of writing out all of the numbers. This helps them learn to count.
- Practice 1 - Count the number of objects. In the spaces provided, write each number in numerical order.
- Practice 2 - Write the missing number in each box.
- Practice 3 - Count each of these sets of objects.
- Practice 4 - We step up to using rows and columns.
- Practice 5 - Put a check next to the number that correctly shows the number of things in the group.
- Practice 6 - Count the sum of total objects in a, b, c, and d.
Tips to Teach Youngsters How to Count
Counting is the first mathematical procedure that we teach to our young ones. This serves as the foundational skill that will follow them forward with everything they do with math. We will springboard off of skill to teach operations and math facts. This should be something that is fun for students and that both teachers and students look forward to taking part in. It usually starts with their fingers, progresses to objects, and then moves to paper and pencil activities. Now there are different ways to help them learn to count quickly.
You should always begin your counting unit by using modelling. The models can be done with objects or simple hand gestures. I like to play hand games with students because they are very tactile at this age. You simple have a number of objects and show them how to count by modelling it out for them. From there I normally progress with this path of activities:
Making sets: You can make index cards with pictures of different things on each card. Children can pick out each card with a similar number of pictures in them.
Path Games: There are different path games which are available for children. With a roll of a die, they can add the number of steps shown on it. Your children can learn a lot from this game. Candyland is one of my favorites to play with my students.
Car game: This is a game that I teach my parents to do with their students on the weekends. When you are traveling on the road, then you can tell your child to count how many cars go by. This way, your child will learn how to count and learn how to do it quickly too.
Museum visit: Take your students to a museum, where there are a lot of doors. You can ask your child to count the number of doors in the museum. Within a second, you will see your child running around like crazy.
The next natural progression is to work on their number sense. This comes from attaching a number sequence to the count. Number lines are helpful to share with them. The flow of these diagrams helps students track their progress in a count. If your child learns counting quickly, you will see a change of shift in his/her mind.