Numbers Coloring Pages

Knowing the numeral is not knowing the number

These are two separate skills and they are easy to confuse. A child can recite to twenty and still not know that the symbol 4 means four things. Coloring the numeral works on the first half — the shape, the symbol, telling 6 from 9 — and it works well, because a full minute inside the shape of a number beats a two-second glance at a flashcard.

The other half needs objects. Count the crayons in the tin, the steps to the door, the grapes on the plate. The two skills lock together when you connect them out loud: color the 5, then find five of something in the room.

Making it count out loud

• Count the strokes as you color them — '5 is one line down, one across, one curve.'
• Ask for that many colors on the page: three colors on the 3.
• Put the finished numbers up in order and read the line aloud together.
• Point out that 6 and 9 are the same shape turned over — noticing it early prevents the confusion later.

Writing comes later, and that is fine

Parents often worry when a four-year-old writes numbers backwards, or starts the 5 from the bottom. Reversals are close to universal at this age and they resolve on their own, usually by six or seven, without correction. What actually helps in the meantime is time spent looking at the correct shape — which is what coloring one gives you, for far longer than a worksheet would hold their attention.

If you want to push it a little further, trace the numeral with a finger before the crayon comes out, starting where the pen would start. The movement memory and the visual memory reinforce each other, and neither of them feels like being made to practise.