List

Counting and ordering: Age 5-7

This collection is one of our Primary Curriculum collections - tasks that are grouped by topic.

Counting Collections in the Early Years
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Counting collections in the early years

In this article for practitioners, Cath Gripton and Deliah Pawluch explore the 'counting collections' approach, which encourages children to spend time playing and experimenting with counting.
Tidying
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Tidying

Age
3 to 5
When tidying away toys in this activity, children will use their counting skills to check that all the toys are in the box.
Number Rhymes
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Number rhymes

Age
3 to 5
In this activity, the rhyme 'Ten Green Bottles' is used to encourage children to count backwards to work out how many bottles are left.
Incey Wincey
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Incey Wincey

Age
3 to 5
In this game, children roll the dice and count how many steps to move the spider up or down the drainpipe.
Number Book
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Number book

Age
3 to 5
Creating a 'Book of Four' provides an opportunity for children to collect groups of four objects and consider how the groups of objects are similar.
Estimation Station
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Estimation station

Age
3 to 5
This activity involves filling a jar with small objects to encourage estimation and counting skills.
Using Books: Maisy Goes Camping
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Using books: Maisy Goes Camping

Age
3 to 5
In this task, the book 'Maisy Goes Camping' by Lucy Cousins introduces children to the idea of using the size and number of objects to work out how many will fit in a 'tent'.
The Voting Station
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The voting station

Age
3 to 5
This task encourages children to count and compare numbers when using 'voting bricks' to vote for a book at story time.
Beat the Clock
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Beat the clock

Age
3 to 5
Children use everyday language to talk about time, to compare quantities and to solve problems
Counting Collections
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Counting collections

Age
3 to 5
In this activity, children choose collections of items to count and are supported as they find ways to keep track of, and record, their counting.
Domino Sequences
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Domino sequences

Age
5 to 7
Challenge level
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Find the next two dominoes in these sequences.
problem

Robot monsters

Age
5 to 7
Challenge level
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Use these head, body and leg pieces to make Robot Monsters which are different heights.

Same Length Trains
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Same length trains

Age
5 to 7
Challenge level
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How many trains can you make which are the same length as Matt's and Katie's, using rods that are identical?
100 Square Jigsaw
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100 square jigsaw

Age
5 to 7
Challenge level
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Can you complete this jigsaw of the 100 square?
Shut the box
problem

Shut the box

Age
5 to 7
Challenge level
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An old game with lots of arithmetic!

Dotty Six
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Dotty six

Age
5 to 11
Challenge level
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Dotty Six is a simple dice game that you can adapt in many ways.

All Change
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All change

Age
5 to 7
Challenge level
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There are three versions of this challenge. The idea is to change the colour of all the spots on the grid. Can you do it in fewer throws of the dice?

How would we count?
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How would we count?

Age
5 to 11
Challenge level
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An activity centred around observations of dots and how we visualise number arrangement patterns.

That number square
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That number square

Age
5 to 11
Challenge level
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Exploring the structure of a number square: how quickly can you put the number tiles in the right place on the grid?
Five Steps to 50
problem

Five steps to 50

Age
5 to 7
Challenge level
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Use five steps to count forwards or backwards in 1s or 10s to get to 50. What strategies did you use?

How Many?
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How many?

Age
5 to 11
Challenge level
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Have a look at these photos of different fruit. How many do you see? How did you count?
Biscuit Decorations
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Biscuit decorations

Age
5 to 7
Challenge level
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Andrew decorated 20 biscuits to take to a party. He lined them up and put icing on every second biscuit and different decorations on other biscuits. How many biscuits weren't decorated?
Writing Digits
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Writing digits

Age
5 to 7
Challenge level
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Lee was writing all the counting numbers from 1 to 20. She stopped for a rest after writing seventeen digits. What was the last number she wrote?
Next Domino
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Next domino

Age
5 to 7
Challenge level
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Which comes next in each pattern of dominoes?
problem

Buzzy bee

Age
5 to 7
Challenge level
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Buzzy Bee was building a honeycomb. She decorated the honeycomb with a pattern using numbers. Can you discover Buzzy's pattern and fill in the empty cells for her?

Missing Middles
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Missing middles

Age
5 to 7
Challenge level
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Can you work out the domino pieces which would go in the middle in each case to complete the pattern of these eight sets of three dominoes?
Making Sticks
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Making sticks

Age
5 to 7
Challenge level
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Kimie and Sebastian were making sticks from interlocking cubes and lining them up. Can they make their lines the same length? Can they make any other lines?
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Grouping goodies

Age
5 to 7
Challenge level
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Pat counts her sweets in different groups and both times she has some left over. How many sweets could she have had?