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 practise 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 K2 and Primary 1, when children start to count larger groups.
In the MOE curriculum
- K1–K2The NEL Framework expects children to count at least 10 things reliably and to say the numbers to at least 20.
- Number senseChildren learn that a group keeps the same number however it is spread out or arranged.
- Primary 1Counting to tell how many objects are in a set opens the P1 syllabus, which goes on to numbers up to 100.
MOE describes early maths in Singapore as moving from concrete to pictorial to abstract. Counting pictures is the middle step, so let children count real objects first, such as buttons, cubes or erasers from their pencil case, and then count the same number on the sheet.
After a child has counted a box, ask them to count it again starting from a different picture. Getting the same answer both times shows they trust the count, the same idea the NEL Framework describes when it says a set keeps its number however it is arranged.
Summarised in our own words from the MOE Primary Mathematics Syllabus (2021, updated October 2025) and the Nurturing Early Learners Framework (2022).
