Counting Flashcards

What is on this page?

Ten counting decks: five things to count, each of them twice — once up to five and once up to ten. Every card shows a group, asks how many there are, waits while your child counts, then says the number out loud and writes it two ways. The groups are always laid out in rows of three, so a given number makes the same shape on every deck.

Which one should we start with?

Start at five, whatever your child's age. Counting five things accurately is a real skill and a child who races to ten while recounting the same duck twice has not got there yet. The ten decks are waiting and will still be waiting next month.

Pick the thing your child likes. The counting is identical across all five sets — the noun is the only difference, and interest is worth more than variety here. A child who wants to count cars five times will count more carefully than one being moved through apples for balance.

Move up to ten when your child counts five without pointing twice at the same picture. Past four or five, seeing how many there are at a glance stops working and counting has to take over, which is why the ten decks give longer on each card.

Then take it off the screen. Cars on a walk, apples in the bowl, flowers in a jar. The same skill with the pictures removed is the one that actually matters, and it is the reason these decks use ordinary things rather than counters.

For grown-ups

Counting out loud and understanding how many are two different things, and the gap between them is normal and lasts months. The signal to watch is not speed but whether your child touches each object exactly once. Recounting one, or skipping one, is the ordinary stumble at three and four — and pointing, slowly, is the whole fix.

Common questions

What age are counting flashcards for?

Roughly three to five. Most children recite one to five around three and one to ten a little later, and counting a group accurately comes after reciting either.

Does it matter what we count?

Not to the counting, no. Use whichever set your child is interested in — the number of things is the lesson, and the apples, ducks and cars are just something to put it on.

Are these free?

Yes. Every counting deck works in a browser with no login and no account.