Numbers to 10 Activities for Little Learners

Building a solid number sense foundation is critical for students' long-term math success – and it starts at an early age. It is the equivalent of learning letter names and letter sounds in reading.

It is important for out students to develop a deep understanding of individual numbers, their quantities, how they are represented, and how they relate to other numbers. Number sense is developed through lots of modeling, practice, and exposure.

Today I wanted to share some ideas to help your little learners practice and learn numbers – but I also want to share an easy assessment freebie that you can use to monitor the progress your students make as they learn numbers to 10.

Here's some of my favorite activities for practicing numbers. The activities are easy to prep and can be used for morning tubs, math stations, or fast finishers. These are fresh, interactive, and engaging activities that are sure to keep your little learners' attention.

Match and Cover:

Match and Cover includes 25 different activity mats with two types of mats included, as pictured above and below. Students use plastic math cubes {or bears} and the color code on the right side of the mat to show their answers.

In the mat pictured above students simply match the number to the number. Using the mats pictured below, students will determine the number represented by each picture and use the color code to cover the pictures to show the number.

Pocket Chart Activities:

This Pocket Chart resource works great as a center or as a math bulletin board display. Students match the picture cards that show the number to the corresponding number header. There are six picture cards per header/number. If you're using this as a center, students can complete this activity using a pocket chart, on the floor, or at a table. As an added bonus, numbers to 20 are included in this packet!

Build the Number:

If you've got mini erasers laying around, here's some great ways to put them to good use. This Build the Number resource includes four different types of activities to get your students identifying and building numbers.

If you don't have mini erasers, plastic cubes or other small classroom manipulatives would work as well.

Cover the Number:

Cover the Number is an easy to prep activity. Just print and slide in page protectors. Students identify the target number on the mat. They look at various objects (or pictures) to determine which ones show the target number. They use cubes, mini erasers, or other classroom manipulatives to cover their answers.

Magnetic Number Mats – What's the Number?:

There are 33 different Number Mats included in this resource. Students identify each number on the mat and use magnetic numbers to show their answer. You could also laminate these and have students use dry erase markers too. Numbers are shown in dominoes, tally marks, ten frames, and much, much more.

Find the Number:

This Find the Number activity works best in a pocket chart. It can be played as a whole group or small group game. To play, the teacher hides the special cards behind a few of the numbers. Students take turns guessing which number the special cards are hiding behind.

There are 6 different year-round theme sets included. This resource does include numbers to 20 – but you don't need to use all of the numbers to play the game. You could play with numbers to 5, to 10, or all the way to 20. There's also an optional predictions page included so students can write down the numbers they think the special cards are hiding behind.

Make a Match:

Make a Match includes ten different sets of matching cards for numbers to 10. Themes are year-round so you can use these all year long. There's a student reference page and a few different recording sheet options so you can use those as a center. Of course, those are completely optional and students could definitely complete this activity without them.

Numbers to 10: Counting Activities

There's 12 different counting activities included. Each has multiple versions so you can use these more than once without having to re-explain directions. The activities require basic classroom supplies such as plastic math cubes, math bears, mini erasers {if you have them}, and dice.

There are no recording sheets for these activities so they are great for morning tubs, fast finisher activities, or small group work.

Numbers to 10: Math Centers

Here's a glimpse at the math centers included. There's 15 different centers included:

Students count each set of bears to determine the total. Using classroom manipulatives they will show their answer on the ten frame. There's “I Can” visual directions included for all centers!

Students will count each set of objects on the counting mat to determine the total of each. They will find the matching set of pictures on the recording sheet and write the number to show the totals.

Students will select a card and count to determine the missing numbers. They will find the corresponding picture series on their paper and record the missing numbers.

You can find all of the activities I shared in the Numbers to 10 Math BUNDLE. Click on the picture below to check it out in my TpT shop.

Numbers to 10 Assessment:

This assessment freebie has a few components to it. There is a teacher checklist and corresponding student pages. This assessment will help you monitor your students' ability to name numbers, rote count to 10, and identify quantities.

There are two versions of the counting quantities assessment. You can simply have students identify the number of seeds in each apple or use the hard copy version and have students write the numbers. {You'll get the bonus assessment of writing numbers using the hard copy version!}Everything included in this freebie is in black and white. You can print on colored paper for some added flair. Speaking of flair, these pens are great for color coding your assessment pages. I use one color for the first assessment and then change colors for each assessment thereafter. It's a great way to show growth