How to use these counting worksheets
Spread the five pages across a week. Each page takes 5 to 10 minutes, plus a few minutes of counting real toys.
- Start with real toys. Before the page, put one teddy on the table, then two. Count them together, touching each one.
- Color and count. On the number page, color the big number and count the toy picture out loud.
- Trace the number. Trace with a finger first, then with a crayon, starting at the dot.
- Move to the counting pages. On count-and-write and count-and-match, help your child touch each picture once as they count.
- Finish with I spy. Save the I spy toys page for the end of the week. It feels like a game and reviews everything.
Materials: a crayon or pencil, a few colors and a small basket of toys or blocks. For more counting and number games beyond paper, see our list of math activities for preschoolers.
Tips by age
Age 3. Keep numbers small and real. Count toys at bath time, steps on the stairs and grapes at snack. On the pages, guide their finger to each picture and count together. If tracing is hard, let them trace with a finger and you hold the crayon.
Age 4. Expect your child to count small groups alone and trace the numbers with a crayon. Ask "how did you know it was two?" and listen for counting or just seeing it. On the I spy page, let them find and count without help, then check together.
Ready for a challenge. If 1 and 2 are easy, ask your child to make groups: "Can you give me two cars?" Making a group is harder than counting one, and it's a great check of real understanding.
Games to play with the pages
- Toy match. After the count-and-match page, find real toys to match each picture group and put them on top.
- I spy at home. Copy the I spy page in real life: "I spy two red things in this room."
- Count and clap. Point to a number and your child claps, stamps or jumps that many times.
- Toy shop. Set up a little shop. Each toy costs one or two pennies or buttons, and your child counts out the right amount.
- Number walk. Take a finished number page outside and look for one of something and two of something.
When your child is ready for more
Once 1 and 2 are solid, add one number at a time up to 10. Keep pairing every number with real objects. After counting comes comparing (which has more, which has fewer), simple graphs and then early adding, such as "two cars and one more car."
The full Count With Me! 1 to 10 pack follows that path with toys throughout. It has 10 number pages, count-and-write and I spy pages, more-or-less and graphing practice, count-and-clip cards and dot-to-dots, across 25 pages. A page a day takes your child from 1 all the way to 10 in a few weeks.
Questions parents ask
They are made for children aged about 3 to 4 who are starting to count small groups. Many 3 year olds can count two or three objects with help, and many 4 year olds can count to ten and point to each object as they go. Use your child's interest as the guide.
Yes. All 5 pages are free to download and print for your own home or class, as many times as you like. There's no sign-up. Choose Colourful or Black & White and US Letter or A4, and the PDF downloads right away.
Show them to touch each object once while saying one number. This is called one-to-one correspondence, and it's the key skill. Then ask "how many?" and help them see that the last number they said is the total. Practice with real toys before and after each page.
About 5 to 10 minutes is right for most 3 and 4 year olds. One page with some real-object counting is plenty. Short, happy sessions most days teach more than one long session a week. If your child asks for more, add a counting game rather than another page.
Count With Me! 1 to 10 has 25 pages: 10 number pages, counting and number pages, look-and-count I spy pages, count-and-clip cards, dot-to-dots, a more-or-less page and a math page. These free pages are a sample from the start, middle and I spy section.
