Why are the pictures scattered?

In a neat row children can spot how many without counting. Scattered pictures make them count one by one, touching each picture once, which is the skill these sheets practice.

Which is easier, write or circle?

Circling the right number is easier: children only need to recognize the numeral. Writing it asks them to form the numeral too. Start with circling, then move to writing.

Can every child get a different sheet?

Yes. Choose 5, 10 or 25 versions and every sheet has different pictures and numbers, each with its own answer key.

Do the pictures print in colour?

Yes, or choose Ink saver to print them as outlines children can colour in after counting.

Counting Worksheets: Count the Pictures to 5, 10 and 20

Counting is more than saying numbers

Children can often recite numbers long before they can count objects. Counting a scattered group asks them to match one number to one picture, keep track of what they have counted, and know that the last number says how many. These sheets practice all three.

How to use them

Start with counts to 5 and circling the number, then counts to 10, then writing. Counts to 20 suit kindergarten and Grade 1, when children start to count larger groups.

Provincial curriculum links

BC KNumber concepts to 10: one-to-one correspondence, cardinality, counting in a stable order and subitizing.
BC Grade 1Number concepts to 20, including counting on and counting back.
ON Grade 1Numbers up to 50, and the everyday ways numbers are used.
ON KThe Ontario Curriculum, Kindergarten, 2026 widens the range of numbers children work with.

BC’s Kindergarten curriculum suggests counting collections of local materials, and counting to 10 in more than one language, including local First Peoples languages. A counting sheet can follow that up: count the pictures in English, then again in French or in a language spoken at home.

Counts to 5 and 10 fit Kindergarten in either province. Counts to 20 suit BC’s Grade 1 and the start of Ontario’s Grade 1, which goes on to 50.

Summarized in our own words from the BC Mathematics curriculum (K–1), Ontario’s overview of the Grades 1–8 math curriculum (2020) and The Ontario Curriculum, Kindergarten, 2026.