Why ten frames work
A ten frame shows a number as a picture children can read without counting one by one. Five fills a row, ten fills the frame, and the empty boxes show how many more make ten. That picture is the base of adding within 10 and understanding teen numbers.
Three ways to practise
- How many? Count the dots and write the number.
- Make 10. Count the empty boxes to find what makes ten.
- Teens. One full frame and some more: ten and some ones.
Curriculum links in England
- ReceptionThe Number goal expects children to subitise up to 5 and understand how each number to 10 is made.
- EYFS frameworkThe EYFS maths programme names tens frames, with small pebbles, as tools for organising counting.
- Year 1Pupils represent and use number bonds and related subtraction facts within 20.
Because the EYFS framework mentions tens frames by name, most Reception classes in England have them, often called tens frames rather than ten frames.
The Make 10 sheets link to the goal’s bonds to 10, and asking “what double can you see?” on a frame with 4 or 6 dots adds the doubles the goal also mentions. In Year 1, two frames show teen numbers as ten and some more, the step before tens and ones in Year 2.
Summarised in our own words from the EYFS statutory framework (early learning goals) and the National Curriculum in England: mathematics programmes of study (DfE).
