Year 1 Counting to and from 20 worksheet

“Counting to and from 20” is free to print, with no account. It is the first sheet in the Year 1 maths unit “Counting to and from 20”, for children aged 5 to 6, and takes about 20 minutes.

Print it on A4. The child's pages come first; the answers, and what each wrong answer tells you, are on the grown-up page that follows. Weeks 3 to 5 of the year, 10 sheets in the unit.

Free sample · answers on the last page

Counting to and from 20

Name: ____________ · Date: ____________
Year 1 · Maths · about 20 minutes
Answers are on the grown-up page

Today I can count forward and backward to and from 20 without missing out teen numbers.

A Look back3 min

1.
What comes after 6?
2.
How many blocks are there?
3.
Which number is more: 4 or 7? Circle one.
47

B Watch me, then you4 min

Ali counts back from 15 along the number line.

Watch me

Start at 15.

Counting back, the next number is 14. Then comes 13.

Counting back: 15, 14, 13, 12. Each one is one less.

Now you

1.
Counting back from 17, the next number is

C Your turn6 min

1.
Counting back, what comes next after 16?
2.
Counting back, what comes next after 14?
3.
Counting back, what comes next after 18?
4.
Counting back, what comes next after 13?

Say it out loud: Which teen number was the hardest to remember when counting back? How did you remember it?

D Spot the mistake3 min

Kit says: “When I count back from 15, the next number is 13.”

1.
What number should Kit say after 15 when counting back?

E Think deeper4 min

1.
Count back from 17 to 12. Write the numbers you say in between.

How did it feel?

I can do it Nearly Not yet

For the grown-up

Counting to and from 20 · 2 minutes to read

Answers, and what a wrong one tells you

A

1. 7

2. 8

3. 7

B

1. 16 If your child writes 18, they counted on. Point to 17 and move one step left to 16.

C

1. 15

2. 13 If your child writes 15, they counted on from 14. Say it backward slowly: 14, then 13.

3. 17

4. 12

D

1. 14 If your child writes 13, they skipped 14 like Kit. Count back out loud and touch each number as you say it.

E

1. 16, 15, 14, 13 If your child misses a number, count back from 17 to 12, touching each one.

Words to use

Say“Say the teen numbers out loud, one at a time, slowly, when you count back.”

Instead of“Just tell them the answer.”

After the sheet

Lay 15 spoons in a line. Touch each one as you count to 15, then count back down to 1.

Tick what your child got right in StudyDen. Anything missed comes back in a later Look back box, so there's no need to redo the sheet.

The rest of this unit

9 more sheets come with a StudyDen plan, in teaching order:

Counting on from any number(with a plan)
Counting back from 20(with a plan)
Counting forward and back(with a plan)
Which has more?(with a plan)
Numbers in Race Order(with a plan)
Greater, less and order(with a plan)
Neighbours of a number(with a plan)
One more and one less(with a plan)
Finding the missing number(with a plan)

Every Year 1 maths worksheet

The worksheets plan opens a printable sheet for every lesson in Years 1 to 6, each with its answers on a separate page for you. It costs £6.99 a month or £59 a year for the whole family, with no free trial.

The full StudyDen plan adds the lessons themselves, marked as your child works, with the worksheets included. It is 7 days free, then £29.99 a month.

Get the worksheets Try the full plan free

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