Counting to 20: One More, One Less

You have 10 fingers. If you count every finger and every toe, you get all the way to 20! But what if you need to count something bigger, like 15 crayons or 18 stickers? Numbers past 10 have a secret: they are really just "ten and some more."

Count objects one at a time up to 20 without skipping any. Read and say the numbers 11 through 20. Find the number that is one more or one less than a given number. Use a ten-frame to see "ten and some more."

The number 14 is made of one full group of ten, plus 4 more. That's why we say "four-teen" - four and ten! Watch for this pattern: 15 is ten and five, 16 is ten and six, 17 is ten and seven. Once you spot the ten hiding inside, big numbers stop feeling so big.

Every number has a neighbor right before it and right after it. If you have 7 apples and someone gives you 1 more, you now have 8 - one more than 7. If you eat 1 apple from a pile of 7, you have 6 left - one less than 7. Try it with 12: one more than 12 is 13, and one less than 12 is 11.

The biggest counting mistake is skipping a number by accident, especially between 12 and 13 or 19 and 20. A good counter touches or points to each object exactly once while saying the number out loud. Slow, careful counting beats fast, mixed-up counting every time.