Subitizing Teaching Resources
Are you on the hunt for subitizing activities, task cards, worksheets and games for your lesson plans to make sure this math skill sticks in those little minds?
The Teach Starter teacher team has assembled a complete collection of teacher-created printables and digital options to teach your students how to subitize and build their crucial counting and cardinality skills.
Aligned with both TEKS and the Common Core math curriculum, this collection of teacher resources has undergone a careful review by a member of our teacher team to ensure it's ready for your classroom and your students!
Is this your first year teaching this part of the math curriculum, or your first time in a few years? Don't fret! The math teachers on our teaching team have put together a quick refresher on the definition of subitizing and some tips on how to teach this crucial math skill.
What Is Subitizing in Math?
Not familiar with the word subitizing? Don't feel bad — it's not one every teacher learns in college.
Subitizing is the ability to instantly recognize the number of objects in a small group without the need to count them. It's essentially "seeing" amounts of things without being given a number in digit form.
For example, when a student rolls a die, if they can instantly recognize the number of dots on its face, that's because they know how to subitize. Subitizing in kindergarten and 1st grade is all about helping students to relate numbers to actual items or groups of items.
This math concept comes from Swiss psychologist Jean Piaget, the man whose theory of cognitive development is well-regarded in educational circles.
Subitizing Pronunciation — How to Say Subitize
We've had more than a few teachers ask us about the proper subitizing pronunciation. Does the suffix "sub" have a short u sound like the "sub" in subtraction?
It would make sense. After all, they are both math terms. The answer may (or may not!) surprise you.
Subitising is pronounced with a long u sound —/oo/.
The word comes from the Latin subit(us) meaning sudden and has no relation to subtraction at all!
How to Teach Subitizing
It's an important mathematical concept, but just how do you teach subitizing?
The key is to expose students to number patterns so they can begin to compose and decompose numbers mentally, setting the stage for "seeing" those numbers in small groups of objects.
To help you get started, our teaching team has put together dozens of resources, each of which has been reviewed by expert teachers to ensure they're classroom-ready! But we didn't stop there. Try these tips from our team:
1. Add Number Talks to Your Routine
You'll notice plenty of number talks resources for teachers on the Teach Starter site, and for good reason. Giving students a chance to play with numbers every day — even if it's just for 5 or 10 minutes — creates repetition that can help your students build their number sense.
2. Apply the 4 Corners Concept to Subitizing
Mount numbers on the classroom wall, and use the Teach Starter random dice roller to randomly roll the die. Project the result onto your whiteboard or smartboard, and direct students to move to the wall with the correct number.
3. Use Hands-on Manipulatives
It may sound obvious, but don't forget to pull out those manipulatives! Dice and dominoes are particularly helpful for building number sense.
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Ten Frame Number Posters (0-20)
Decorate your classroom with our ten frame number posters that will delight your animal-loving students while providing concrete representations of the numbers 0-20.
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Subitizing Activity — Clip Cards (Numbers 1 - 10)
Share this subitizing activity with your students to give them hands-on practice subitizing to 10.
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Printable Ten Frames (Single and Double)
Introduce these printable ten frames to your students to promote number sense with hands-on learning.
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Aliens in a Spaceship Counting and Subitizing Game
Download a fun, hands-on game for teaching kids to count and use one-to-one correspondence or to subitize.
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Subitizing Worksheets for Kindergarten
Incorporate these subitizing worksheets for kindergarten into your lessons to give your students practice subitizing collections up to 12.
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Subitizing Bingo Games (Numbers 1 - 10)
Play these subitizing bingo games in your small groups to give your students practice subitizing numbers up to 10.
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Subitizing Mazes (Numbers 1 - 10)
Solve our subitizing mazes to have fun practicing subitizing quantities up to 10!
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Ten Frame Printable Templates
Use these printable ten frames in various math lessons to reinforce number sense and other essential skills.
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Subitizing Worksheets
Utilize these subitizing worksheets to help your students learn many ways to subitize to 10.
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Subitizing to 10 Teaching Slides
Display our Subitizing to 10 Teaching Slides to encourage mathematical discussions in your classroom.
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Subitizing to 10 Interactive Task Cards
Practice subitizing to 10 with these varied and engaging interactive task cards.
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Subitizing Dice - Numbers 1 to 9
Practice subitizing to 9 with your students using this versatile set of dice flashcards.
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Subitizing "Construct-a-City" Activity
Help your students subitize to 5 and beyond with this hands-on subitizing activity for kindergarten.
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Subitizing Numbers to 10 - Worksheet
Practice subitizing numbers to 10 with your students using this printable worksheet set.
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Subitizing Games — Leapfrog!
Play this subitizing game in your classroom to help your students practice subitizing small collections.
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Subitizing Game — Memory
Use this subitizing game to help your students learn to quickly subitize numbers 1 - 12.
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Subitizing Small Collections Teaching Slides
Teach your students to subitize with this editable set of Google teaching slides.
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Subitizing Assessment Pack
Utilize our Subitizing Assessment Pack to test your students' ability to subitize quantities up to 10.
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Subitize to 10 Task Cards — Number Talks
Help your students subitize to 10 and beyond with these number talk task cards.
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Ten Frame Variety Pack
Enliven your ten frame activities with this variety pack that contains both single and double ten frame templates.
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Subitizing Card Game
Utilize this subitizing card game to reinforce number recognition and subitizing skills with some friendly competition!
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Virtual Subitizing Cards
Display these virtual subitizing cards to teach your students to instantly recognize quantities.
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Number Recognition 0-5 Color-by-Number Pack
Practice number recognition with this color-by-number activity pack! Students color varied representations of the numbers 0-5 to solidify their understanding.
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Number Recognition Bingo — Numbers 0 - 10 (Small Group)
Reinforce your students’ number recognition skills with this fun BINGO game!
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Counting to 10 Partner Games
Play games and practice counting to 10 with these fun partner game templates.
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Count the Chicks! Easter Counting Activity
Practice recognizing, counting, and subitizing numbers from 1-20 with this Easter math activity.
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Kindergarten Ten Frame Activities — Spring Task Cards
Use our kindergarten ten frame activities to step up your students’ number recognition, counting, and subitizing skills.
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Subitize This! – Lesson Warm-up
Use this subitizing slide deck as a quick warm-up before your lessons.
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Subitize and Exercise – Brain Break Activity
Get active with this subitize and exercise brain break activity.
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Subitizing Battle
Quickly subitize and compare numbers up to 5 with this fast-paced card game.
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Subitizing Sorting Activity
Practice recognizing the quantity of a small group of objects with this subitizing sorting activity.
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Fall Counting Clip Cards
Practice counting objects with a set of 18 fall-themed counting clip cards.