Counting is a skill we all learn pretty early in life. However, skip counting is a more difficult concept for younger students to grasp, which means if you are a first, second, or even third grade teacher, you probably spend more time than you would like counting by threes, fives, or tens. Use the activities listed below to ease some of the monotony and cement the concept of skip counting once and for all!
1. Read Skip Counting Books
Engage the students in your class with picture books! Even the most reluctant skip counter will be counting along with these ladybugs. There are a plethora of books on the topic, so you can pick a different one to read each day.
2. Get Up and Moving
Get students up and moving with this Workout and Count video. They will be happy to be moving around and getting energy out while they practice skip counting! This is a great full-body kinesthetic learning activity, too. There are many other songs for skip counting on YouTube to listen to with your class as well!
Learn more: Jack Hartmann Kids Music Channel
3. Do Skip Counting Puzzles
As the image says, 123Homeschool4Me.com has over fifty FREE skip counting puzzles available for your use! After your print out the puzzles, you can laminate the different strips to be able to use them over and over.
Learn more: 123 Homeschool 4 Me
4. Practice with Paper Plate Lacing
A great activity that has students practice their fine motor skills while learning skip counting is the paper plate lacing activity. Students can follow the steps in the video with you to learn how to make their own lacing plates.
Learn more: Jordan Camp
5. Do Skip Counting Dot to Dots
The Royal Baloo offers many different skip counting ideas and activities, including skip counting dot-to-dot printouts for different holidays. After the students complete their puzzles, they can color them and display them around the room to add a little holiday cheer to your room!
Learn more: Royal, Baloo, and Logi-Bear too
6. Play Skip Counting Hopscotch
When thinking of a couple of things that all kids love, being outdoors, being creative, and jumping around are a few ideas that come to mind immediately. Have them create the hopscotch board, and then get them up and hopping around with this fun skip counting version of hopscotch. Add this to your list of fun and low-prep ideas list!
Learn more: Math Geek Mama
7. Practice with Counting Coins
Teach students about skip counting by having them practice with coins. A bonus with this activity is that students will review or learn who the presidents on the coins are while they are growing their understanding of skip counting! She also sings a skip counting song that will surely help them remember this important concept!
Learn more: Ms. Jackson's Learning Corner
8. Learn with Skip Counting Hands
This one gives the term "hands-on activities" a whole new meaning! Create a classroom mural by having each student add their handprint to poster boards or pieces of cardboard. They will love getting their hands dirty and contributing to the mural while practicing skip counting!
Learn more: Ofamily Learning Together
9. Display Skip Counting Sentence Strips
Give students a visual representation of skip counting with classic skip counting sentence strips. Whenever they need a reminder of how to count by a certain number, they can look on your wall!
Learn more: 123 Homeschool 4 Me
10. Create a Skip Counting Anchor Chart
When first introducing the idea of skip counting, create an anchor chart with your class. This simple classroom activity will have all students engaged as they contribute to your anchor chart!
Learn more: Mrs. Richardson's Class
11. Count in Groups
The activities offered here feel like games to kids, but what they are really doing is practicing their skip counting skills! How many ten groups are in the grid? How many one groups? Soon they will be counting masters by learning how to count by grouping!
Learn more: Homeschool Math
12. Play the Amazing Race
Partner students up to play The Amazing Race. They will use groups to practice skip counting. Soon this will be one of their favorite math activities, and they will be asking when they can play again! And a bonus is that it takes very little setup on your part!
Learn more: Mr. Elementary Math
13. Do a Hundreds Chart Activity
This interactive, colorable hundreds chart activity will keep students engaged while teaching them how to skip count. On an iPad or Chromebook, tell students which color to fill in every 2nd, 7th, or 8th number and have them masters in no time!
Learn more: Math is Fun
14. Do a Skip Counting Maze
Give students daily skip counting practice with these fun mazes that practice counting by different numbers. They fill up a chunk of time each morning and have students practicing an important skill without you having to recite numbers aloud every day!
Learn more: Confessions of a Homeschooler
15. Count with Paperclips
Bust out the paperclips and paper plates and have kids practice their fine motor skills while they skip count. They will feel like they are playing a game while they are learning. Use different colored paperclips for different number values as they get more advanced in their skip counting!
Learn more: Creative Family Fun
16. Make Skip Counting Caterpillars
Create skip counting caterpillars. You can have pre-printed caterpillars ready to go, or you can put this in your "cut and paste activities" folder and have students create their own caterpillars! Maybe after, the caterpillars can turn into butterflies with this activity!
Learn more: Whimsy Workshop Teaching
17. Count with Legos
Another idea from Royal Baloo is skip counting with Legos. Engage those reluctant learners by doing this hands-on activity by playing with one of their favorite toys. Want them to count by 5s? Give different number values to different colored Legos!
Learn more: Royal, Baloo, and Logi-Bear too
18. Make a Popsicle Puzzle
Use popsicle sticks to create a fun puzzle. Employ students to color each stick, and then you can write numbers on each. You then have a popsicle skip counting puzzle for them to put together! (And hey, maybe you guys can eat popsicles first.)
Learn more: Simply Kinder
19. Do a Skip Counting Dice Activity
Kids will love rolling the skip counting dice and finding which number they will be counting by! The site offers a template for creating your dice, and it gives other ideas for skip counting activities as well! By laminating the worksheets, you can use them over and over.
Learn more: 3 Dinosaurs
20. Create Skip Counting Kites
This fun math craft will have all students engaged while they color in their kites and the different pieces of their kites' tails before assembling all of the different pieces. You can also have them practice their fine motor skills by having them cut out the pieces themselves! Hang the kites in your classroom as visual reminders.
Learn more: Kindergarten Worksheets and Games
21. Do a Skip Counting Card Activity
Create skip counting cards. They can practice reciting the numbers on the cards and then test their knowledge by seeing if they can skip count correctly with the cards faced down. They can check to see if they are correct by flipping the cards over!
Learn more: Activity Village
22. Play the Number Bubble Game
What kid doesn't love video games? When you have a little downtime, let students break out their devices and play this fun skip counting game! Kids (and teachers) will love the cute graphics.
Learn more: ABCYa
23. Practice Using Patterns
Once students have the concept of skip counting down, get out the chalk and let them create shapes and do this skip counting activity! Adapt the lesson as they get better at skip counting to use more complicated shapes.
Learn more: Kids Activities
24. Display Number Posters
Have a multitude of representations of skip counting around your room using different skip counting posters. Do kids need a visual reminder on how to count by 3s? By 5s? They can look at a poster!
Learn more: 123 Homeschool 4 Me
25. Play Skip Counting Games
Round out your skip counting unit with these fun skip counting games! They are a great activity for students to display their knowledge of skip counting while also playing a game and having fun with their peers. After all, we all know students learn the best when they are also having fun!
Learn more: You've Got This Math
30 Skill-Developing After School Activities for Middle Schoolers