Number 10
Toddler · 2–3Color the number 10 — ten. Ten is the first number here that needs two symbols, and that is a new idea rather than just a bigger number: one group of ten, and none left over. You do not need the words place value — bundle ten objects and treat the bundle as one thing, and the teens stop being arbitrary. Color the 10 circles beside it too, touching each one as you count out loud — the last number you say is how many there are, and that is not obvious to a four-year-old. Print it on A4 or US Letter, or color it online with tap-to-fill.
The first number that needs two symbols
Ten is the first number on these pages written with two digits, and that is a genuinely new idea rather than just a bigger number. A 1 and a 0 side by side mean one group of ten and none left over. Children who are not told this often read 10 as one and zero, or as the word ten with no connection to the marks at all.
You do not need the words place value with a four-year-old. What helps is the grouping itself: count ten circles, then bundle them — ten fingers, ten toes, ten in a row. Once ten behaves like a single thing that happens to be made of ten things, the teens stop being arbitrary.
Why everything is built on ten
Our whole number system runs in tens because we have ten fingers, and that is a satisfying thing for a child to be told. It also makes ten the most useful number to know inside out. Pairs that make ten — one and nine, two and eight, five and five — are the number facts that pay off most, and they are worth playing with long before school asks for them.
Frequently asked questions
- How do I explain that 10 uses two digits?
- Through grouping rather than explanation. Bundle ten objects and treat the bundle as one thing. The 1 counts the bundle and the 0 says there is nothing left over — which children accept readily once they have made the bundle themselves.
- Which number facts are worth practising first?
- The pairs that make ten: one and nine, two and eight, three and seven, four and six, five and five. They do more work in later arithmetic than any other set of facts at this level.