Counting and early mathPre-K–K
Counting worksheets for preschool and kindergarten
This generator prints boxes of circles, squares, triangles or stars arranged in rows of five. Children count each group and write the number in a box. Choose the top number (5, 10 or 20), the pictures and how many boxes per page.
- Fresh problems every time
- Answer key on its own page
- Print or PDF, Letter or A4
- Free, no sign-up
On this page
What these sheets practice
Counting looks simple to adults, but a child is doing three things at once: saying the number words in order, giving each object exactly one word, and understanding that the last word spoken tells how many there are. These pages isolate that skill. Every box holds one group of pictures, and the child writes how many in the square beside it.
The pictures sit in rows of five, so a group of eight shows up as one full row and three more underneath. That layout is deliberate. Children who see a full row often start to recognize "five" at a glance, and later they can count on from five instead of starting over at one. It is the same idea behind ten-frames and egg cartons.
The sheets suit children from about age four through the first months of kindergarten. After they are comfortable here, picture-based adding is a natural next step: see preschool addition worksheets.
Choosing the settings
- Count up to. Choose 5, 10 or 20. Begin with 5 until a child can count a group without losing their place, move to 10 when most boxes are right, and use 20 for children who are ready to see two full rows and a part row.
- Pictures. "Mixed shapes" varies the shape from box to box, which keeps the page lively. A single shape (circles, squares, triangles or stars) is calmer and helpful for a child who gets distracted by variety.
- Number of problems. The generator accepts 4 to 16 boxes. Four or six is plenty for a child who tires quickly; a full page of 10 or more suits a confident counter.
- Paper size and answer key. Pick US Letter or A4, and tick Include the answer key to get a second page showing the correct number in each box.
Each sheet uses different quantities from 1 up to your chosen limit, so a page will not repeat the same count twice (when the limit leaves enough numbers to choose from).
Worked example: a box with seven stars
Suppose one box shows seven stars: a full row of five and two more on the next row.
- Have the child touch the first star and say "one", then slide their finger along the row: two, three, four, five.
- Drop to the second row without pausing: "six, seven".
- Ask, "How many stars are there?" The answer is the last number said, seven, not the number of rows.
- Write 7 in the box. Check by counting again, this time starting from the second row to see the total stays the same.
A quick extension is to ask, "How many more to make ten?" A child who looks at the empty places can reason that three more would fill the rows.
What mistakes tell you
When you compare the child's page with the answer key, the pattern of errors is more useful than the score.
- Off by one, usually too high. The child counted the first object twice or said a number while pointing to nothing. Teach one touch per picture, and let them move counted pictures aside with a finger.
- Off by one, usually too low. They skipped an object, often at the end of a row. Suggest they mark each picture lightly with a pencil dot as they count.
- Correct up to five, wrong beyond. They may know the sequence only to five. Count aloud together past five a few times a day, away from the page.
- Backward or mirrored digits. Reversed 2s, 3s and 7s are very common at this age and are not a counting problem. Praise the count, and practice the digit shape separately.
Keep sessions short, and stop while the child still wants more. When counting to 10 feels easy, try the 20 setting, or move on to number sentences with sums to ten in a clean horizontal layout.