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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Rounding Task Cards
Use place value knowledge to round numbers to the nearest ten through to the nearest hundred thousand with this set of 20 task cards.
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Number Hunt Description Cards
A set of 32 task cards that have students use their knowledge of place value to find specific numbers.
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Numbers 1-50
A bright number board representing numbers 1-50.
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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 1 - 30 Egg Flip Game
Numbers 1 - 30 in numerals and words on frying 'eggs' to help students with number recognition.
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Number 19 - Worksheet
An activity worksheet to use in the classroom when learning about the number 19.
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Number 18 - Worksheet
An activity worksheet to use in the classroom when learning about the number 18.
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Number 17 - Worksheet
An activity worksheet to use in the classroom when learning about the number 17.
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Number 14 - Worksheet
An activity worksheet to use in the classroom when learning about the number 14.
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Number 13 - Worksheet
An activity worksheet to use in the classroom when learning about the number 13.
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Number 11 - Worksheet
An activity worksheet to use in the classroom when learning about the number 11.
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Number Worksheet - 9
An activity worksheet to use in the classroom when learning about 9.
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Number Worksheet - 7
An activity worksheet to use in the classroom when learning about 7.
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Number Worksheet - 6
An activity worksheet to use in the classroom when learning about 6.
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Number Worksheet - 5
An activity worksheet to use in the classroom when learning about 5.
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Number Worksheet - 4
An activity worksheet to use in the classroom when learning about 4.
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Number Worksheet - 3
An activity worksheet to use in the classroom when learning about 3.
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Number Worksheet - 2
An activity worksheet to use in the classroom when learning about 2.
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Number Worksheet - 1
An activity worksheet to use in the classroom when learning about 1.
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Number Talks - How Many Task Cards
Build number sense skills with this set of 24 task cards.
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Tens Frames - 0 to 100
A decorative set of 0 to 100 tens frames to display and use in the classroom.
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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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How Many Candles? - Birthday Cake Counting Activity
A fun birthday cake themed place value activity to help students identify numbers and count small collections.
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Aliens in a Spaceship - Counting Game
A fun hands on game for children to play when learning to count.
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Alien Eyes - Number Game
A fun alien themed number game to help students identify the number from 1 to 12 and count small collections.
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Hundreds Number, Word and MAB Block Posters - V2
Posters showing numbers going up in hundreds.
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1 to 20 Number Match-Up Puzzles
A set of 20 match-up puzzles to help students identify the numbers from 1 to 20.
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Vibrant Watercolour - Numbers 1 to 100 Chart
A vibrant watercolour themed hundreds board.
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Numeration Word Wall
A set of vocabulary cards for a numeration word wall.
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Hundreds Number, Word and MAB Block Posters
Posters showing numbers going up in hundreds.
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Emoji - Numbers 1 to 100 Chart
An emoji themed hundreds board.
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0-20 Number and Word Posters - BW
Posters showing numbers and words from 0-20.
- Number Sense Worksheets
- Number Sense Games
- Number Sense Posters
- Number Sense for Preschool/Kindergarten
- Number Sense for Foundation Year
- Number Sense for Year 1
- Number Sense for Year 2
- Number Sense for Year 3
- Number Sense for Year 4
- Number Sense for Year 5
- Number Sense for Year 6
- Number Sense for Year 7