Year 1 · Maths
Count objects to 20
Counting up to 20 things one at a time without losing track, and writing the number, including 0.
New sheets start on target. You can also print an easier one or a harder one.
What your child will see
The whole sheet as it prints. Every new sheet has different numbers.
Count the toys. Write how many in the box.
Two minutes at home
- Ask
- Can you show me how you counted them? Where did you start?
- Play
- Line up toy cars or spoons and count them together, touching each one. Add a few more and count again.
Common mistakes and how to help
One more or one less than the right amount: a toy was counted twice or skipped.
Try this: Touch each toy as you say its number, or tick each one with a pencil as it is counted.
Wrote how many are on one shelf: they may have stopped at the end of the first shelf.
Try this: Count the top shelf, then carry on along the bottom shelf without starting again: "…8, 9, 10, 11".
The digits are the wrong way round, as in 41 for 14. "Fourteen" says the 4 first, but we write the 1 first.
Try this: Say "fourteen is ten and four" and write the 1 first, for the ten.
Didn't write 0 for an empty shelf: they may not think of 0 as a number yet.
Try this: Count things into a box and back out again. When the box is empty, say "none left, that's 0".
The answer is a long way off: they may have lost track of which toys they'd counted.
Try this: Count slowly along each shelf from left to right, pointing at each toy.
Curriculum links
Count, read and write numbers to 100 in numerals; count in multiples of 2s, 5s and 10s.
National curriculum in England: mathematics programmes of study · Year 1 Mathematics: Number and place value
Identify and represent numbers using objects and pictorial representations including the number line, and use the language of: equal to, more than, less than (fewer), most, least.
National curriculum in England: mathematics programmes of study · Year 1 Mathematics: Number and place value
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