Recognising numbers, learning to count and becoming really confident with numbers are skills your child will continue to develop the whole way through primary school.
Build your child's numbers and counting skills with printable and interactive resources
First of all, read up on how counting skills are taught through the whole of primary school and check out the meaning of number concepts you might hear, like number squares, prime numbers, multiples and factors.
Then start exploring our teacher-created counting worksheets, which are in line with National Curriculum objectives for number and place value for each year of primary school. You'll find lots of downloadable counting activities to help with numbers and counting, including reading and writing numbers, using number lines, number bonds and number sequences, counting objects, odd and even numbers, rounding numbers to the nearest 10 or 100 and comparing and ordering numbers, positive and negative numbers and much, much more.
Want to try something more interactive? Have a go at an online challenge in one of our tutorials, such as Finding one more than a number up to ten or Ordering numbers with up to three decimal places.
And don't worry! All our numbers and counting worksheets, activities and games include answers, so you can check your child's got it right.
Articles
5 number and counting skills primary-school children need
Numbers are all around us, almost from birth! Teacher Phoebe Doyle looks at counting, a fundamental aspect of mathematical understanding, to help your child grab the basics (without confusion!) from day one.
What is place value?
A good understanding of place value (the value of each digit in a number) is vital in primary-school maths. Our parents' guide explains how your child will be taught about ones, tens, hundreds and thousands with number lines, arrow cards and more, as well as outlining how place value is used to help children visualise calculations.
What is a number line?
Spotted something about a number line in your child’s homework instructions, and not sure what it means? We review the basics of this amazing, adaptable educational tool and explain how it's used in KS1 and KS2 maths.
Tutorials
Counting in fives tutorial
Our digital teacher is going to show you how to count in fives – and then you can have a go yourself!
Prime numbers tutorial
Our digital teacher shows you a really simple method for working out prime numbers, then she's going to set you a challenge. Can you pull the space ships with the prime numbers onto the correct planet?
Adding three one digit numbers tutorial
Let our digital teacher show you an easy way to add three one-digit numbers, then see if you can answer the on-screen questions correctly.
Worksheets
Counting to 10
Your child will need to count count candles and match them with the correct digit in this worksheet, designed to help them practise counting to 10.
Counting around the house
Look at the items in the table. Can you find them in your home? How many can you find? Count them and fill in the table!
Counting in 2s, 5s and 10s
Incomplete number sequences for your child to fill in, helping them practise counting in 2s, 5s and 10s.
Also see:
Maths revision – the fun way! Our Year 1 maths booster pack covers all the main maths topics your child will learn in the first year of KS1 to help them practise their skills. Use the colourful worksheets to boost your child's confidence with number bonds, telling the time, simple addition and subtraction and first story problems, or try some of the suggested extension activities to consolidate what they've learnt at school.
Number bonds... counting in ‘hops’... using grids and number lines... this is the norm for our kids, but it means very little to us. That's because maths lessons today take on a rather different form to those from our own school days. Forget tedious hours of solving endless sums; The Parents' Guide to Year 2 Maths ebook, packed with great maths games and activities, will guide you through everything you need to know for maths in Year 2 and help your child towards KS1 SATs success.
