Number Sense Teaching Resources
Browse printable number sense worksheets, hands-on maths activities and more teacher resources created by teachers for teachers like you!
These resources are aligned with the Australian Maths Curriculum, and each was created by teachers with teachers — and students — in mind to help build foundational maths skills in ways that engage and excite students about numbers!
Want to learn more about number sense? Read on for a primer from our teacher team, including a definition of number sense, how to assess this important maths skill and more!
What Is Number Sense?
In the most basic sense (no pun intended), number sense refers to a student's intuitive understanding of numbers and their relationships. It includes the ability to estimate and compare quantities, understand numerical patterns and relationships and make reasonable judgments about the accuracy of calculations.
When students show an understanding of numbers, their size, relationships,and how they are affected by the four mathematical operations, what they're really showing is their number sense.
In an educational setting, building number sense is closely related to other foundational skills such as problem-solving, critical thinking and logical reasoning. As our students get older, it will become a crucial skill for daily life they will use to manage finances, calculate time and make decisions based on numerical information.
Teach Starter Teacher Tip: Although the names may seem interchangeable, it's worth noting that number sense is not the same as mathematical fluency or memorisation of algorithms, but rather a deep understanding of the underlying concepts and relationships between numbers.
When Does Number Sense Develop?
There is no single year level when we're teaching students number sense — instead, it continues to develop and become more sophisticated as students progress through primary school.
Research suggests that babies as young as 6 months old can distinguish between small and large numbers of objects, and by prep, students are already working on number sense as they begin to learn counting and one-to-one correspondence. At this level, they're also beginning to develop an understanding of quantity and relative size — both key to overall number sense.
Number sense will continue to grow in primary school as students become more adept at recognising and using numbers to solve problems, and it continues into high school and — for many students — into university.
Assessing Number Sense
When we assess students for their number sense skills, there are certain mathematical concepts that they should have under their belts. These include:
- Ability to Recognise Missing Numbers in a Pattern —When kids can fill in missing numbers in a sequence, they're showing that they can make connections between numbers and develop an understanding of the relationships between them.
- Ability to Use Maths Mentals — Students with number sense can use maths mentals to solve problems involving the four basic operations.
- Ability to Engage in Systematic Counting — Children who can count systematically can more easily understand the relationships between numbers, including number magnitude, patterns and sequences.
- Ability to Subitise Numbers — Students can use visual clustering skills to instantly recognise how many objects are in a group without physically counting them.
- Ability to Relate Numbers to Real-World Problems —For example, a student may understand that '3' means 'three objects' or 'three days' or 'three dollars.'
- Ability to Compose and Decompose Numbers — Students use number sense when they break down numbers and put them back together. For example, a student who can break down the number 10 into 8 and 2, then add the two back together to again make 10, is using number sense.
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Counting Watermelon Seeds Task Cards
Practise counting with this set of watermelon-themed counting task cards.
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Bugs in a Jar Counting Activity
Practise counting to 20 with this engaging and hands-on bugs in a jar activity set.
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Counting Objects Dominoes Numbers 11–20
Practise counting objects by matching 28 numeral and picture dominoes.
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Numbers 1-10 Bug Matching Game
Help students learn to represent numbers 1-10 in picture, word and number form.
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Halloween Maths Worksheets - Spooky Ten Frames
Model numbers to twenty using ten frames with a spooky Halloween maths worksheet for year 1.
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Halloween Tracing Numbers Worksheets
Trace and write numbers to twenty with a set of spooky Halloween tracing numbers worksheets.
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Pumpkin Count and Colour - Halloween Maths Worksheet
Use these Halloween maths worksheets to practise counting sets of objects up to ten.
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Autumn Counting to 10 Clip Cards
Practice counting objects with 18 autumn-themed counting to ten clip cards.
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Colourful Tens Frames
Print a colourful set of tens frames to enhance your small group maths lessons.
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Rounding Task Cards (Numbers to 100 000)
Use place value knowledge and vertical number lines to round numbers up through the hundred thousands place with a set of 24 task cards.
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Colour by Number Worksheet - Multiplication Facts (Rabbit)
Bring some colourful fun into your maths lessons with a multiplication colour by number worksheet.
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Understanding Exponents – Task Cards
Practise rewriting, comparing and evaluating expressions with exponents with this set of task cards.
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Subitise This! – Lesson Warm-up
Use this subtising presentation as a quick warm-up before your lessons.
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Comparing Two Digit Numbers — Clash Game for Year 1
Practise comparing two-digit numbers with the help of this year 1 board game.
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Counting Objects Hunt – Numbers 1–10
Use one-to-one correspondence skills to practise counting objects up to 10.
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Christmas Colour by Number Worksheets
Use knowledge of numbers to 10 to colour in these Christmas-themed colour by number worksheets.
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Number Match Treasure Hunt
Have students gather the treasure and make matches of numerals, quantities and number names with this match-up activity.
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Counting Peg Cards – Bugs and Insects
Practice counting objects up to 10 with a set of 18 insect-themed counting clip cards.
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Counting Peg Cards – On the Farm
Practise counting objects with a set of 18 farm-themed counting peg cards.
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Comparing Three-digit Numbers – Worksheet
Practise comparing three-digit numbers with this hands-on worksheet.
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Ice Cream Addition Activity
A cute ice cream-themed addition activity.
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Numbers 1–10 Dominoes
A set of dominoes to consolidate students’ understanding of number from 1–10.
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Number Talks - Building Numbers Task Cards
Build number sense skills with this set of 24 task cards.
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1 to 20 Car Park Number Match
A car park themed number matching activity to use in the classroom when identifying the numbers from 1 to 20.
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10-20 Digit Cards
A set of 10-20 digit cards to be used when teaching place value.
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0-9 Digit Cards
A set of 0-9 digit cards to be used for numeracy games in the classroom.
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Ordinal Numbers Poster
A poster for ordinal numbers 1st - 50th, plus 60th, 70th, 80th, 90th and 100th.
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Numbers 1 to 10 – Poster
A poster of numbers in different forms.
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Zero to Thirty Posters
A set of posters showing numbers 0 - 30.
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Counting to Twenty Poster - BW - No Capitals
A poster showing numbers and words from one to twenty.
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Number and Word Posters 0-99
Posters showing numbers and words from 0-99.
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Counting to Twenty Poster - Colour
A poster showing numbers and words from one to twenty.