Skip Counting with Talented and Gifted

After children learn the basics of counting and number recognition, their next step is to master skip counting. This new skill becomes the foundation for future math activities like multiplication and division; however, it also provides immediate benefits, like allowing children to count quickly and helping them to master addition and subtraction. These skills become important as children complete math drills and other activities. Skip counting is also essential to working with money and telling time. For these reasons, an understanding of skip counting is necessary to achieve required competencies in math for 1st grade.

Children often begin skip counting by learning multiples of 5 and 10. Teachers might have them identify patterns on a number line or hundreds chart, coloring or circling numbers that end with 0 or 5. Children might organize groups of 5 or 10 using toys, cubes, candies, or other manipulatives, then count the groups by 5s or 10s to find the total number of objects. Similarly, students often complete worksheets that divide objects into groups of 5 or 10 on plates, tables, boxes or cartons, then skip count to find the total number of objects. Kids quickly realize that this is faster than counting single objects, making it a very useful tool. Students might check their understanding of skip counting by filling in the multiples of 5 or 10 that are missing on a number line or chart. Soon they learn to add up the total value of coins like nickels and dimes or to tell time on an analog clock by counting 5-minute intervals. Many teachers use songs, books, games, and videos to repeat these concepts and help children practice and remember skip-counting patterns.

Kids Academy provides a variety of skip-counting resources to teach and reinforce these concepts through its website and Talented and Gifted app. Created by early education and software design experts, these videos, worksheets, games and quizzes teach and provide practice in this vital early math skill.

Since children are often most engaged through videos and stories, animated characters and real-life scenarios can help them identify and remember important math patterns. For example, this Kids Academy video uses skip counting by groups of 10 sheep to help a friendly dog fall asleep at night: 

Kids Academy also has many different interactive counting worksheets tailored to kids’ interests and imaginations. Objects like cupcakes and race cars, dancing sheep and peas in pods help them learn to count by 5s and 10s. The worksheet designs make activities fun, which encourages repetition and learning.

With AI technology employed, kids can check their worksheet answers directly on the Talented and Gifted app and Kids Academy website, making the learning experience fully interactive. Students do not need to wait for feedback from a teacher or parent but can correct errors as they occur, which reduces confusion or mislearning. Worksheets can also be printed out and checked by the app via the back camera of users’ devices.

Everyone knows that children are often willing to spend more time learning when concepts are presented through video games. With this in mind, Kids Academy has created games to help kids practice counting by 5s and 10s. In the following example, colorful graphics and fun challenges keep kids engaged arranging numbers into correct sequences while counting by 5. 

Children also have opportunities to test their skip-counting skills on the Talented and Gifted app by using quizzes that provide immediate feedback. Kids gain confidence as they demonstrate their ability to count by 5s and 10s and identify areas where they need more practice.

The Kids Academy website and T&G app provide these and many other activities to help kids learn skip counting, as well as various other math topics. With so many options that cater to children’s interests, students can have fun and practice the math skills necessary for grade-level proficiency to build a strong foundation for future study.