Counting to 5

Part of MathsCounting and orderingYear 1Year 1

Why do you need to count?

Lily pointing to some numbered stones from 1 to 4.

Counting is a useful thing to do.

Counting on and back in the correct order is a maths super-power.

You can count things like fingers, stones, steps and even pieces of fruit. Or you can count to find how much you have left of something.

You can even count back to zero to start a race!

Lily pointing to some numbered stones from 1 to 4.
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Activity: How to count to 5

Try this interactive activity all about counting to 5.

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Using a number track

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  1. Number track showing a grid with 2 rows and 5 columns and numbers 1 to five in bottom row. There are no counters on the top row.

    This is a number track. You can move on or back along the track to help you count.

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Counting in a line

You can make counting easier by putting the things you want to count in a line.

Take a look at this group of shell decorations.

4 shells in a jumble, there is a scallop shaped shell a coiled shell, a winkle shell and a flat shell.

You can rearrange them into a line to count them.

Same picture as previous but now the shells are in a neat line and each are numbered 1, 2, 3 and 4.

The last number is four, so there are four shells altogether.

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Example 1

3 flowers with stems and 2 leaves each in a row.

How many flowers are there?

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Example 2

A string of 4 beads showing a large bead, small bead, large bead and small bead.

Here are some beads. How many are there?

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Example 3

A number track 1, 2, 3, ? and 5.

Here is a number track. Can you work out the missing number?

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